Overall tennis
Kate Files (above) of Fort Smith Northside defeated Valley View’s Cydney Rogers 6-4, 7-5 on Tuesday to take the girls singles title at the state Overall tennis tournament at Burns Park in North Little Rock. Collin Matthews of Rogers won the boys singles championship. In doubles, brothers Hayden and Carter Swope of Springdale Har-Ber took the boys title, while Jenna Kate Bohnert and Grace Lueders of Rogers claimed the girls championship.
After her match Tuesday against Valley View’s Cydney Rogers, Fort Smith Northside’s Kate Files said she had to be on top of her game to win.
Her play during crucial moments showed that she achieved her goal.
Files broke Rogers three times during the second set — including on match point — to win 6-4, 7-5 and capture the singles title in the girls state Overall tennis tournament at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
“I knew I just had to play well and stay focused,” Files said. “Cydney is a great player. We’re really good friends. But this one means a lot to me.
The doubles title means a lot to Jenna Kate Bohnert and Grace Lueders of Rogers as well, and the juniors rallied to beat Leena Cashman and Naya Kessman of Haas Hall Fayetteville 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“Oh man, this is special,” said Bohnert, who teamed with Lueders to win the doubles title at Overall last year as well. “We kind of loosened up a little bit eventually. That may not make much sense because we were down a set. But we were like, ‘OK, we need to settle down,’ and we focused more on doing that.
“We were giving them shots that they could easily put away. And we were trying to rally from the baseline, but that’s not how we usually play. Our game is at the net.”
Bohnert and Lueders swung the match back in their favor after Kessman and Cashman broke serve on the final game of the opening set to take charge.
The defending overall champions kept play near the net in the second set, winning the last three games to send the match into a deciding set.
They exchanged breaks to get to 2-2 before Bohnert and Lueders held their third service game of the set — the only service game either team won — then broke Kessman and Cashman again to lead 4-2. They staved off several rallies to pick up the victory.
“It’s amazing, especially since this is our second time,” Lueders said. “I feel like the most challenging thing was the pressure. There were high expectations, too, but we were able to pull through.”
Files also had high aspirations for Tuesday, particularly because of the close calls she’s had during her career. She was the runner-up in the state’s largest classification her freshman year, then was third in both 2018 and 2019. Files also finished second at last week’s Class 6A tournament.
“I’ve been really close to winning state my last couple of years,” said Files, whose left thigh was heavily wrapped after pulling some tissue a few weeks ago. “I just wanted to come out here and do my best. So to finally do it at Overalls, it feels really good.”
The senior used two breaks to win the first set, then held a 5-3 lead in the second set before Rogers stormed back to tie it at 5-5.
Files held serve on the next game, then broke the three-time Class 4A singles champion again to close out the victory.