Hollis shows mettle, dominates early rounds
Lakeside sophomore Ben Hollis had no problems proving why he is the top-seeded player in the Class 5A state tennis tournament.
Hollis, who lost in the semifinals last year as a freshman, retired Benton’s Blake Covert in straight sets in less than half an hour, and he defeated Greenwood’s Zach Beshears in the second round, 6-0, 6-1.
While Hollis’ first match was held indoors at the Hot Springs Country Club, he had to play the second outdoors, but he said that he was unaffected by the wind gusts that seemed to cause issues for many other players throughout the day.
“I don’t think (it was a factor) really,” he said. “It kind of died down by the time I was playing. I know this morning it was really bad. Usually, I can adapt to that.”
This was the second straight year that Hollis and Beshears met in the second round, but Hollis jumped out to a quick lead, winning 11-straight points to start the match. Beshears picked up the next two, but he had an unforced error to give Hollis the 3-0 lead.
Hollis swept the third game with four straight points, all on unforced errors, but Beshears battled back, nearly forcing a deuce before sending a shot long for a 5-0 lead by Hollis. The sophomore Ram dropped just one point in the next set to take the 6-0 win of the first.
“I played pretty good,” Hollis said of the win. “You know, I try to like not get myself too down when I miss and then, you know, just constantly have to bring myself up.”
Hollis opened the second set up much like the first, but after winning four straight in the first game, Beshears gave up just one, an unforced error into the net, in the second game to even the score at a game apiece. Hollis quickly regained control, winning eight straight point to take a 3-1 lead. He then gave up a single point in each of the next three games to secure the win.
“He was hitting some pretty good shots,” Hollis said. “And it’s just like, you just get into a rhythm, and like, you’ve got to constantly adapt to the ball.”
Defending girls singles state champion Jenna Payne wasted little time in getting to the semifinal round. The junior from Jonesboro admittedly had some unforced errors in her first match against Vilonia’s Katie McKay.
“I’m trying to get out of the habit of those, but to come back from that I normally say, ‘Next four points.’ I don’t think of it like a game,” she said. “I think of it as individual points. I have to focus on one point at a time, and after I do that make that mistake, I try not to do it again.”
After taking a 6-0 win in the first set against McKay, Payne struggled to get her rhythm going again, forcing a deuce before McKay returned the ball long to give Payne the 1-0 lead. Payne opened the second set with three straight aces before double-faulting twice, eventually losing the game on a deep cross from McKay.
“I double-faulted twice in a row in one game after three aces, so that was kind of rough, but (I’m) trying to just get back in it and going a little bit slower,” she said. “Sometimes I rushed through my shots, so if I can just take a deep breath, and I really realize whenever I do stop and take a second, then that’s what I do to kind of get back in my role, get back on my mojo and then normally, I can fix it. I’ve been trying to fix it a lot more lately.”
McKay kept Payne on her toes, winning at least a single point in each of the remaining games, but Payne was not going to allow her title defense end that quickly.
Having spent much of the last few weeks of training indoors, Payne said that the blustery conditions during the first match of the day did cause some issues.
“It’s just something we all have to deal with,” she said. “It was definitely troubling with the serve. My serve, specifically, it’s just really having a lot of troubles right now, so that’s the biggest thing I’m trying to overcome. But, yeah, my opponent (played) really well, and I mean, the game she did get, I mean, she fought hard for. I mean, it was a deuce point, so that point could have gone either way. I call it sudden death. I love it, but … it was a good starter match. I can’t wait for the next one.”
Lakeside’s boys doubles team of sophomores Greyson Cornelison and Walker Wood struggled early in their first match of the day against Alma’s Nathan Gibson and Drew Battles. After going up 2-0, Cornelison and Wood opened the third game with three unforced errors, and Gibson and Battles won three straight games to take a 3-2 lead.
Cornelison and Wood battled back to take a 6-4, 6-0 win to advance to the second round, where they faced a tough duo from Beebe, Logan Babel and Lucas Young.
After forcing a deuce point in the first game, Cornelison sent a return wide to drop the game, but the Rams duo scored four straight points to knot the score. Both teams battled for each point in the first set as each went either to a deuce or to a single-point spread before Cornelison and Wood took each for the 6-1 win.
“I feel like it went pretty well,” Wood said. “I felt like we worked together and came out on top. We had some good competition along the way though.”
The teams continued to work in the second set, trading games early with each duo losing a set on its service through a 3-2 advantage by the Lakeside pair. With the sixth game within a point, Wood drove a shot to Young, who returned the shot long for a 4-2 Lakeside lead.
The teams battled to another deuce in the next set, but Cornelison skimmed a return across the top of the net, sending the ball careening away from Babel’s outstretched racquet for a 5-2 lead. Cornelison opened the next game with back to back points before knocking one into the net, but Baber forced one into the net before Young overhit for an unforced error to set the final.
“We played better than we’ve played before, especially last year,” Cornelison said. “This time we got through the second round.”
Defending girls doubles champions Macie Heide and Sarah Godrey from Mountain Home took a hit Sunday night. Heide had a family member get a positive test result Sunday night, forcing her to quarantine. Godrey paired up with Christiana Sebree, but after a battle in the first set against West Memphis’ Samantha Holt and Taylor Brossett, they failed to win a single game, falling 7-5, 6-0.
Holt and Brossett advanced to the semifinals after downing Lakeside’s Ava Monte and Lily McDonough, 6-4, 6-3, and they will play Van Buren’s Erica Jones and Abby Saniseng today in the semifinals. Lakeside’s other doubles team, No. 2 seed Julia Malone and Elizabeth Cowen, fell to Jonesboro’s Lauren Guadamuz and Peyton Mullins in the second round, 6-2, 6-4. Guadamuz and Mullis will face Eve Slater and Olha Los of Siloam Springs today in the semifinals.
All semifinal matches are set to start at 10 a.m. today at Lakeside’s courts.