Lakeside looking to add to state title tally
Lakeside has its best shot of claiming a Class 5A boys state tennis title since winning in 2014 as sophomore Ben Hollis, the top-seeded singles player, being the only returning player to have reached the semifinals last season.
Lakeside and Jonesboro are among the favored teams for the Class 5A title, which Lakeside is again hosting starting today at the school and at Hot Springs Country Club. Lakeside has the most state titles in both boys and girls with 25 girls championships, last in 2016, and 23 boys titles.
In addition to Hollis, Lakeside’s two doubles teams are strong contenders as well with second-seeded Griffin Gulley and William Ivy as well as Greyson Cornelison and Walker Wood, who fell in a hard-fought three-set quarterfinal match last year.
“I feel really good about things,” said Lakeside tennis coach Shawny Green. “Of course, if things go well, Ben’s playing awesome right now, and he has a chance to win the entire thing. Obviously that would help us out as a team. I feel like our doubles teams are a lot more mature this year, and they’re playing very well at this point, and I think that they could do a lot better in doubles, which would obviously help us a lot, so I feel pretty good about our chances in boys.”
Green is very impressed with how well her boys doubles teams are competing.
“Grayson and Walker, you know, only made it to the second round last year,” she said. “I feel like they’re at a much higher point, you know, right now. I just feel like those sophomores playing doubles have matured so much, and they’re playing the best that they’ve played ever together in doubles right now. So I hope that … continues through the state tournament because I feel like they can be as successful as they want to be as well.”
All five classifications will begin state postseason play this morning at various locations. Class
2A will be played in Jonesboro at Allen Park. Class
3A and 4A will be hosted at Burns Park in North Little Rock, and Class 6A will be contested at Rebsamen Tennis Center in Little Rock.
Standing in the way of the Lady Rams will be defending state champions in both doubles and singles action. Jonesboro’s Jenna Payne dropped just nine of her 57 sets in the tournament last season, and Mountain Home’s Sarah Godfrey and Macie Heide will be looking to repeat as state doubles champions. The pair dropped just eight sets in the first three rounds before defeating Lakeside’s Mary Catherine Cowen and Isabella Calhoun, 6-4, 6-4.
“As far as girls go, I think … the girls doubles team of Julie Malone and Elizabeth Cowen could go as far as they want to,” Green said. “I really think they can compete in the finals for sure, and possibly, I don’t know — we’ll see what happens if they get there. Of course my other doubles team has to play that Mountain Home team right off the bat in the second round if they win the first match, so that will be a struggle. I think Haley Fauber has a good shot to make it all the way to the semis or the finals also.”
Sophomore Elizabeth Cowen, who reached the second round last year with senior Sydney Blount, has the experience her classmate Malone does not, but Malone brings a higher level of competition.
“Julie is a much stronger player,” Green explained. “They have every confidence in the world that they can win at all, for sure. But they just haven’t had that many competitive matches, you know, that I would have liked to have seen them play this year, but they’re ready for it.”
Garland County will be well-represented with at least one player in each of the lower four classifications. Matthew Blees will represent Mountain Pine in the 2A tournament, facing off against Conway Christian’s Gavin Hensley in the first round.
In Class 3A, Jessieville’s John Canaan Taylor will face Mountain View’s Will Fowlkes while Allysan Spears will face Smackover’s Marley Shairrick.
Fountain Lake will have multiple players competing today after the Lady Cobras claimed the 4A-7 conference title last week. Andrew Bledsoe, as the No. 2 seed, will face Pottsville’s Tevor Fugate in the first round of the boys singles. Lainey Mungle will face Shiloh Christian’s Hailey Tunnell while Jordan Lancaster takes on Dardanelle’s Bethany Walter in girls singles, and Angela Coriarty and Paige Davis will take on Harrison’s Elise Bell and Camryn Casey in girls doubles.
Lakeside will not be the only Garland County team represented in the Class 5A tournament. Lake Hamilton’s Peter Bobnar will face Little Rock Christian’s Malcolm Wengel, and teammate Ty Robinson will face LR Christain’s Caleb Roystuart today in boys singles action. Bobnar could have a rematch of the 5A-South semifinal against Hollis in the semifinal on Tuesday.
Hot Springs’ Ella Pace, who has lost just two matches this season, will face Beebe’s Rivers Martin in the first round with a possible matchup against Payne in the second round.
The first two rounds of the boys matches, both singles and doubles, will be played today at Hot Springs Country Club with the girls matches set for the courts at Lakeside. All matches will be played at Lakeside on Tuesday.