De Vera advances to semifinals
ROGERS — Class 6A tennis teams converged on Rogers Heritage on Monday for the state tournament.
Stella De Vera, Rogers Heritage High School singles player and 6A-West champion, received an opening round bye and played one match on the day before defeating Mary Claire Wooldridge of Conway 6-1, 6-0, advancing her to today’s semifinals.
“I only played one match today, so I just had to win this one to go to day two,” De Vera said.
However, she didn’t pull that win without some hardships along the way. One being that she lost one of the games against her opponent, which was disappointing to her.
“My opponent was decent, but after I lost that one game, I just wanted to beat her,” De Vera said.
That’s exactly what she did. De Vera isn’t letting any pressure associated with being the No. 1 seed get to her head.
“I think it’s time to win.” De Vera said.
De Vera will face Evie Sandlin of Fayetteville in the semifinal round. After an opening round bye, Sandlin defeated Kensley Capel of North Little Rock, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
The other girls singles semifinal will be Caroline Jones of North Little Rock against Olivia Menendez of Fayetteville. Jones defeated West’s Eva Lopez 6-3, 6-3. Menendez topped Mount St. Mary’s Abby Whitaker 7-5, 6-0.
In girls doubles, the the Bentonville team of Glennah Langford and Kavya Kurichety will take on Lauren Guadamuz and Ella McPike of Jonesboro in one semifinal.
Langford and Kurichety defeated Rudzinski and Carter of Fayetteville 6-0, 6-1. Guadamuz and McPike defeated Bentonville West’s team of Gonzalez and Allison 6-4, 7-6.
Caroline Lasley and Khushi Patil of Little Rock Central will play Elise Nunn and Jalie Bohnert of Rogers. Lasley and Patil defeated Lilly Landers and Lily Watson of Fayetteville 6-1, 6-1. Nunn and Bohnert beat Caraline McCarthy and Cecilia Galvan of Conway 6-1, 6-1.
In boys, Graham Hardin of Bentonville West defeated Andrew Sanchez of Bentonville 6-3, 6-1 to advance to one semifinal. He’ll face Thompson Maner of Fayetteville, who beat Ani Reddy of Little Rock Central 6-1, 6-0.
The other semifinal will be Ethan Richardson of Jonesboro against Harrison Deer of Rogers. Richardson defeated Carter Swope of Springdale Har-Ber 6-3, 6-3. Deer defeated Evan Randall of North Little Rock 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. In doubles, the Fayetteville team of Spencer Holloway and Jacob Nordin advanced to the semifinals after defeating Cabot’s pair of Adams and Hennesey 6-1, 6-1. They’ll face Fowler and Gibson of Jonesboro, who advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Montoya and Hendricks of Little Rock Catholic.
The other doubles semifinal will be Fayetteville’s Ledzinski and Phelan against Read and Aguirre of Bentonville. Ledzinski and Phelan defeated Little Rock Catholic’s Isaiah Bordador and Aiden Bordador 3-6, 6-4, 7-6. Boyce Read and Santiago Aguirre defeated Fort Smith Southside’s Ryder Mack and Rin Ahlert, 6-1, 6-0, in the second round.