Tennis season begins for local schools
SEARCY - The El Dorado High School girls tennis team enters today's Lion Invitational as one of the favorites in the eighth annual event.
El Dorado's boys and girls teams will be joined by Cabot, Conway, Searcy, Benton and Riverview.
El Dorado's Macey Barker, the runner-up in girls singles last season, will be one of the favorites again this year, along with teammate Alexis Downum.
Conway's Taylor Lemieux, the two-time defending champion, has moved to doubles this season.
She and teammate Holly Jones are among the favorites to capture the girls doubles title.
They'll be challenged by El Dorado's veteran duo of Megan Barker and Abigail Van Sickle, who reached the semifinals in last year's tournament.
Conway's girls have been dominant in the Lion Invitational, winning the team title the past two seasons and three of the past four.
On the boys side, a rebuilding Searcy team will try to win its fifth title in the past six years.
Riverview's Andrew Hill is the favorite in boys singles and Parkers Chapel's tandem of Austin Fruge and Michael Brotherton is considered one to watch in the boys doubles bracket.
Play is scheduled to begin at noon today and at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Searcy High tennis com-
plex.
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First round matchups involving local athletes include:
Girls singles: Claire Van Sickle (ED) vs. Trudell (Benton); Downum (ED) vs. David (Cabot); Barker (ED) vs. Teed (Searcy); Hannah Barbaree (PC) vs. Moore (Riverview); Sadie Goss (PC) vs. Nosal (Benton).
Girls doubles: Emma Thomas/ Shannon Huang (ED) vs. Boyd/Medders (Benton); Barker/Van Sickle (ED) vs. Follett/ Franklin (Cabot); Ali Looney/TK Burson (PC) vs. Reifeiss/Taylor (Conway); Savannah Slaughter/Drue Thomas (PC) vs. Glover/ Ferguson (Conway);
Boys Singles: Gage Reed (ED) vs. Kelley (Searcy); Josh Arrington (PC) vs. Kennedy (Riverview); Payne Williams (PC) vs. Threlkeld (Searcy); Gary Gauthier (ED) vs. Gifford (Conway); Michael Collier (ED) vs. Hill (Riverview).
Boys Doubles: Griffin Reed/ Carson Ricker (ED) vs. Korbin McAuliffe/ Austin Looney (PC); Fruge/Brotherton (PC) vs. Terrell/ Guerra (Benton); Ben Alderson/Evan Brooks (ED) vs. McCarty/ Trezvant (Conway); Jordan Arrington/ Thomas Hardy (PC) vs. Ellis/Usery (Cabot); Derek Tompkins/Luke Alderson (ED) vs. Nutt/ Ditto (Riverview).