Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tourney title has Sweeney right at home
ROGERS — Jake Sweeney has found a home in the Northwest Arkansas tennis ranks faster than his family could wrap up the purchase of a new house.
Sweeney, whose family will move to town from the Atlanta area, made the most of a move up in the age ranks when he captured the boys 14s singles title Sunday afternoon with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Hayden Shoemake during the Mattel Junior Open State Championships at Pinnacle Country Club. That win came after he defeated Will Kistler of Rogers 6-0, 6-1 in a semifinal match earlier in the day.
“I had just met them,” Sweeney said of his opponents over the past three days. “I just tried to figure out during the warmup, and I just try to make my game the first few games until I come up with a game plan.
“He wasn’t too consistent in that match, so I tried to get everything back, hit it deep and play pretty aggressive. I tried to outlast him and not miss, trying to make him miss.”
Sweeney, who will be an eighth-grader at Fulbright Junior High next month, could have played in the boys 12s division since he doesn’t turn 13 for a few days. Instead, he used this tournament to pick up a few extra points for next weekend’s Junior Closed State Championships in North Little Rock.
His plan worked well as he outlasted Shoemake, who resides in Centerton and will be an eighth-grader at Lincoln Junior High when school resumes. Sweeney picked up vital points during long volleys and won the first four games en route to taking the first set.
“He came out playing better,” Shoemake said. “I was a little nervous. He was just played better, made more shots than I did and was more consistent through the match.”
Shoemake, who advanced to the championship match after an earlier 6-2, 6-3 semifinal victory over Collin Matthews of Rogers, did try to make a comeback early in the second set. He broke Sweeney’s serve to take the lead, then held his serve for a 2-0 lead but didn’t take another game. Sweeney used one of his best shots of the match to take the lead for good. He rushed toward the net and put a backspin on a drop shot that just cleared the net, then quickly spun out of bounds and out of Shoemake’s reach.
“It was a short ball, so I said ‘why not,’” Sweeney said. “I had a ton of racquet-head speed and swung super-fast with a little drop shot angle.”