Favorable Seedings For Farmington Tennis

FARMINGTON — The Cardinal tennis team received favorable seeding for the District 4A-1 tournament, which began at Harrison on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, and continues Thursday.

Seeding for district boys featured: Conner Kennedy No. 3 boys singles, Gavin Pennington No. 5 boys singles, Joshua Jowers and Noah Disheroon No. 1 boys doubles; Taylor Raabe and Connor Sharp No. 2 boys doubles.

For the girls: Reagan White No. 2 girls singles, Katelyn Cunningham No. 5 girls singles, Taighton Pettigrew and Mary Stewart Beard No. 2 girls doubles, and Isabella Guess and Morgan Campbell No. 4 girls doubles. Guess and Campbell are 4-6 going into district.

Farmington tennis coach Denver Holt notes Beard and Pettigrew started out the year as the Cardinals No. 2 girls doubles team and worked into the team’s No. 1 doubles squad.

“It was very interesting for those two, how they came together,” Holt said. “They are best friends outside of tennis, and just like any good doubles team they have that chemistry you need to be successful.”

Beard is a first-year player while Pettigrew has been out for tennis all four years of high school.

“They’ve done very well controlling what they can control — that’s their attitude and their effort,” Holt said. “I can always count on them to have a positive attitude and give a tremendous effort.”

The duo bring a 4-6 record into district. Beard is a former dance team member. Pettigrew convinced her to come out for tennis.

“She never played before, but the things she learned in dance, how to move her feet and be graceful, has helped her,” Holt said. “Tennis does not define them. They do so much more for others, it’s too much to count. They are best friends with big hearts playing tennis together.”

White encountered tough competition out of the gate taking on the State 7A runner-up player from Fort Smith Northside in the very first match of the season.

“At that point, her last two matches were State champion in 5A followed by State runner-up in 7A,” Holt said. “She was tested early, but she has responded very well and has put herself in position to be one of the top two singles players in our league.”

White sports a 7-4 record coming into district. Holt thinks the competition she has faced will prepare her for district and beyond. Coaches from the 5A West and 4A-1 have commented on her improvement.

“Even though it has not yielded the results we wanted it has made her better in the long run,” Holt said. “She’s just got better across the board, her serve, her strokes, and her being able to end rallies by making an opponent move. She is really dictating the pace of the match and controlling the tempo.”

Cunningham takes an 8-3 record into district. Holt says she doesn’t let mistakes linger and although all kids on the team care about winning, she takes it up a notch.

“She encountered some troubles early on in her career outside of tennis and it just goes back to her ability to move forward and to move on,” Holt said. “For her to be here and to be able to compete at the level she’s competing is a win in itself.”