Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tennis semis set
Bentonville West’s Sarah Schneringer (above) and playing partner Avery Hargrove advanced to today’s Class 7A state girls doubles semifinals with victories Monday. The Class 7A state tennis tournament will conclude today at Memorial Park in Bentonville with semifinals and finals, while the Class 6A tournament will finish at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
BENTONVILLE — Mary Houston’s transformation from a high school doubles player to a singles competitor is two steps closer to being a complete success.
The Fayetteville sophomore advanced to the Class 7A state tournament semifinals in convincing fashion, defeating Izzy Furnseth of Rogers Heritage 6-0, 6-0 during Monday’s quarterfinal round at Memorial Park.
“I like this a lot,” Houston said. “I mean, doubles was a blast, but singles is awesome, too. You’re on the court by yourself, so you have to be a lot more focused. You don’t have anybody on the court pumping you up or keeping you focused. It all comes from yourself.”
Houston, the 7A-West singles champion, was so much in control of her match that, once she was finished, she could actually go over and do a little scouting on her next opponent. It turned out to be Little Rock Central’s Eleanor Burks, who advanced with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Ty Noonan of Mount St. Mary.
Those two will face each other in today’s 10 a.m. semifinal match. The other semifinal has Rogers High’s Erica Juggernauth — a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Fort Smith Southside’s Anna Magness — going against Kate Files of Fort Smith Northside, which moved on by defeating Conway’s Holly Jones.
“Basically, I just wanted to get the ball in high and heavy,” Houston said. “I wanted to hit a good deep ball and push her back, then get a short ball and put her away. What worked was hitting high and to her backhand, but I was hitting my slap forehand way too hard.”
Jaggernauth, meanwhile, trailed for most of the second set before she rallied and won the last three games against Magness. The win was crucial for Rogers High because it gave the Lady Mounties the lead heading into today’s round.
Rogers earned five points, thanks to a first-round victory from the doubles team of Kayla Haddock and Cameron Barr and a quarterfinal win from the team of Caroline Long and Brittany Matthews. Fayetteville, which earned a pair of wins from the doubles team of Cam Cupelli and Anna Mauromoustakos, was a close second with four, while Bentonville West and Fort Smith Southside are tied for third with three points.
“If we don’t get Erica into the semifinals, we can’t even compete for state,” Rogers coach Matthew Fulton said. “That quarterfinal round was a tough one for us. It was a tough match, but we were able to pull it out.
“Anna deserves a lot of credit. She played consistently and kept the ball in play,
where she’s normally more of a power hitter and misses a little bit more. In the second set, she brought both power and consistency, which brought a struggle for Erica to compete.”
The Long-Matthews team will play Cupelli and Mauromoustakos in what could be a critical doubles semifinal
match. The other semifinal features Bentonville West’s team of Avery Hargrove and Sarah Schneringer against the Fort Smith Southside duo of Amy Truitt and Mackenzie Shell.
The semifinal matches are set for 10 a.m., with the championship matches slated for 1 p.m.