Lady Wildcats win Searcy tennis tourney
SEARCY - An all-El Dorado girls singles final clinched the team title Saturday for the Lady Wildcats in the Lion Invitational Tennis Tournament.
Macey Barker beat teammate Alexis Downum 8-1 in the final after both advanced with impressive semifinal wins, both over Searcy players.
El Dorado, which returns its entire starting lineup from last season, edged
Searcy 19-18, in total points. Conway was third with 15 points; Cabot was fourth with nine and
Parkers Chapel and Benton each finished with five.
Barker topped Kamie Provence 8-5 in one semifinal while Downum made quick work of Kathleen Formel in the other.
The Lady Wildcats put themselves in position for the title by earning three crucial points in the consolation bracket. The doubles team of Megan Barker and Abigail Van Sickle won twice and the tandem of Emma Thomas and Shannon Huang won its only match Saturday.
El Dorado’s boys team finished in a four-way tie for fourth with eight points. Conway edged Searcy for the boys title, 17-15, and Parkers Chapel was third with 10.
The Trojans’ Arrington and Thomas Hardy reached the semifinals before falling to a Benton team.
El Dorado's girls singles standouts advanced to the semifinal round Friday during the opening day.
Barker and Downum each notched two victories as the Lady Wildcats amassed 10 team points Barker knocked off Emily Teed of Searcy, 8-2 in the first round and followed it with an 8-2 win over Gericke of Conway. Downum got past Cabot’s David 8-3 in the first round and then took down Benton’s Alex Trudell, 8-2, in the quarterfinals.
The El Dorado doubles team of Megan Barker and Abigail Van Sickle was dealt a first-round loss, 8-5, to Follett and Franklin of Cabot. The Lady Wildcats got doubles points from Emma Thomas and Shannon Huang. The duo knocked off Benton’s Boyd and Medders, 8-5, before failling to Searcy’s Molly Parker and Carman Barker, 8-0.
Parkers Chapel’s Hannah Barbaree was a first-round winner, beating Riverview’s Courtney Moore, 8-3, before falling in the quarterfinals.
On the boys side, the Wildcats got wins from Gary Gauthier in singles (8-5 over Conway’s Gifford) and Griffin Reed and Carson Ricker in doubles (8-1 over Parkers Chapel’s Korbin McAuliffe and Austin Looney) and from Derek Tompkins and Luke Alderson (8-2 over Riverview’s Nutt and Ditto). Both teams dropped quarterfinal matches.
Parkers Chapel’s Josh Arrington picked up a singles win, beating Riverview’s Dylan Kennedy, 8-1, before losing in the quarterfinals. The Trojans’ doubles team of Austin Fruge and Michael Brotherton knocked off a Benton duo before dropping a hard-fought match, 8-6, to Conway.