Lakeside sees 8 advance on 1st day of tournament

Lakeside will take four doubles teams and four singles players to the Class 5A State Tennis tournament that the team hosts next week at the high school and at Hot Springs Country Club after the four teams and four individuals each reached the semifinals of the 5A South conference tournament. The semifinals for both singles and doubles start at 10 a.m. at Lakeside with the finals set for 1 p.m.

The Rams No. 1 boys doubles team of Greyson Cornelison and Walker Wood struggled early in their match against Lake Hamilton’s Dylan Taylor and Larry Morales before ultimately winning, 6-3, 6-0.

The teams battled it out with Cornelison and Wood taking a 3-1 lead in the first set before Taylor and Morales took two quick games to tie. Cornelison and Wood then won three straight games to take the set as Taylor hit a shot long to end the set.

Cornelison and Wood dominated the second set, allowing a total of three points in the second set. Taylor and Morales tied the first game at 15-all before the Lakeside pair closed it out with three straight points, but the Lake Hamilton pairing jumped out to a 30-love lead before Morales hit a rough patch that left Cornelison and Wood winning four straight for the game.

The Lakeside pair did not allow another point in the match. Cornelison and Wood will take on Texarkana’s Cornelius and Ivey, who defeated the Hot Springs pairing of Said Angeles and Blaine Martin, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Lakeside’s No. 2 boys doubles team took a 6-3, 6-0 win over Lake Hamilton’s Chase Berry and Austin Praetzel to advance to today’s semifinal against Texarkana’s McCoy and Floyd. Berry and Praetzel defeated Hot Springs’ Eben Sanders and J.T. Butler, 6-1, 6-0, to reach the quarterfinals.

In girls doubles action, Lakeside’s Isabella Calhoun and Mary Catherine Cowen took a 6-1, 6-0 win over Lake Hamilton’s Hayleigh Wyrick and Aspen Thornton to reach today’s semifinal against Hot Springs’ Ella Pace and Angelina Guevara. Wyrick and Thornton defeated El Dorado’s M. Bonsall and K. Neely, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals, and Pace and Guevara downed Texarkana’s Jones and Schooler, 6-1, 6-1, to advance to the semifinals.

Lake Hamilton’s Kindsey Faulkner and Natalie Tedder defeated Hot Springs’ Isabel Ritter and Nina Gunnell, 6-3, 7-5, to reach the quarterfinals, but the Lady Wolves team fell to Sydney Blount and Elizabeth Cowen, 6-0, 6-0. Blount and Elizabeth Cowen will face El Dorado’s K. Bonsall and J. Carroll in today’s semifinal.

Lakeside’s Ben Hollis advanced to the semifinal with a win over El Dorado’s Baylor Blackburn, 6-0, 6-1. Hollis will take on Lake Hamilton’s Peter Bobnar, who defeated Hot Springs’ E.J. Martinez, 6-0, 6-1. Lakeside’s William Ivy took a 6-1, 6-0 win over Evan Estes to advance to the semifinal, where he will face Texarkana’s Nate Price.

Lakeside’s Haley Fauber advanced to the semifinal round after a 6-0, 6-0 win over Lake Hamilton’s Denisa Gui. Gui defeated Hot Springs’ Hannah Newcomb, 7-6, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinal.

Julia Malone will play in the other semifinal for Lakeside after a 6-0, 6-0 win over El Dorado’s Millie Mobley. Lake Hamilton’s Jovana Cetnik defeated Texarkana’s Mary Dowd, 6-3, 6-3, to reach the semifinals and face off against Malone.