Doubles team among state’s best
■ Siloam Springs’ tennis season begins on Monday against Greenwood
Doubles team Eve Slater and Ohla Los stormed through the 5A-West Conference tennis slate in 2019 with an undefeated record in conference play, and Siloam Springs head coach Scott Wright feels like the duo can be an even bigger threat this season.
“They’re probably among the top three teams in the state,” Wright said of Slater and Los. “Eve and Ohla have improved tremendously, and we feel really good about what they’re doing.”
Slater and Los and the rest of the Siloam Springs tennis teams kick off their season Monday against Greenwood at the John Brown University Tennis Complex.
“We’ve been practicing for the last four weeks,” Wright said. “Obviously some of the kids have been playing all summer on their own. The kids have really improved.”
Slater, a senior, and Los, a sophomore, went 12-0 in 5AWest competition and won the league’s doubles championship before advancing on to the state tournament.
In the state tournament, Slater and Los advanced to the state quarterfinals where they lost to eventual state champions Sarah Godfrey and Macie Heide of Mountain Home.
“They ran into the other top team in the state,” Wright said. “The team that beat us won it.”
Wright said Slater and Los’ serves and ground strokes are much better than last year.
“We have a lot of confidence, but hey, you’ve got to prove it on the court,” he said. “Let’s see how they do.”
Slater and Los are two of 11 players on the girls side, Wright said.
Faith Howie, who was part of another doubles team last year, also returns as a veteran player for the Lady Panthers.
“Faith is definitely strong on the doubles side and we’re hoping whoever she partners with will be our No. 2 doubles team,” Wright said.
Wright said there are several newcomers to the team on the girls side who could see action in singles and doubles.
“We’ll see how they shake out,” he said. “There’s a lot of them. They’ve gotten better and they’re playing stronger. We’ll see what happens.”
On the boys side, the numbers are a bit low for the Panthers, who have only seven players.
“We knew the boys numbers would be low because we didn’t have a lot of freshmen and we didn’t have an offseason because of covid,” Wright said. “That kind of limited our ability to go after more players.”
Junior Lucas Junkermann has made big strides in the offseason, Wright said.
“His improvement has been tremendous,” Wright said.
Junkermann, who’s father Kelly Junkermann is a volunteer assistant, is likely to play the Panthers’ No. 1 singles role.
“He’s improved his forehand and his backhand, his net play and his service,” Wright said. “Lucas is looking sharp.”
Boone Henley played at No. 2 singles last year and will likely fill that spot again, Wright said.
“He’s gotten a lot better this year and we’re hoping that will translate into matches,” Wright said.
On the doubles side, Wright said Mitchell Wheat, Ezra Zaidner, Montana Herrel and brothers Malachi and Ezekiel Becan are all going to be in the mix.