Tennis teams look forward to season
Siloam Springs tennis coach Scott Wright feels good about the returning experience for the Siloam Springs boys and girls tennis teams.
“We’ve got a lot of returning players this year,” Wright said. “That really makes a difference, and all these kids have been playing at least to some degree. We’ve got a lot more experience this year. That’s already setting a tone for the season. The practices are more intense. We’re preparing at a higher level than we were last year during practices, and I think that’s going to pay dividends as we move along.”
The Panthers and Lady Panthers are scheduled to begin the season early this season on Aug. 7 at a tournament in the Fort Smith area.
“It’s here quick and it always is,” Wright said. “It’s really quick this year. … The AAA let us start earlier, and that’s really the key. The AAA let us start earlier, but our playoffs are a week earlier.”
Wright is getting some help again on the coaching side as former tennis pro Kelly Junkermann is again helping the team.
“Being able to have him (Kelly) out here assisting and being able to help with the individual instruction has been a huge benefit to the program,” Wright said. “Obviously we want to continue that and like I said every one of our players have gotten better. We’ve all improved.”
On the boys side, the Panthers return Trey Hardcastle, Lucas Junkermann, Boone Henley and the Becan brothers, Malachi and Blaise.
“Obviously we’ve got Lucas and Trey coming back,” Wright said. “They were our top two last year along with Oliver Reid. We basically return all of our guys, all the guys that played in playoffs.
We’ve got everybody returning.”
The Panthers also have Montana Harrell, a cheerleader who also has joined tennis.
On the girls side, the Lady Panthers return several players with experience including Eve Slater, Nikkita Ho, Faith Howie and Daisy Sullivan along with Trinity Bagley and Shealey Soucie. The Lady Panthers are also excited about freshman Ulga Los, the younger sister of former SSHS all-state player Orest Los.
“We’ve got a host of players back,” Wright said. “We’ve got some others that may be coming out as well. We feel pretty good that they’re coming back from last year as well. … We’ve got a lot of girls back. We feel like our girls team is going to be very competitive.”
The Panthers and Lady Panthers will once again play in the ultra competitive 5A-West Conference, which includes Little Rock Christian, Greenwood, Greenbrier, Alma, Vilonia, Beebe and Russellville.
The 5A-West Conference Tournament is Sept. 23-24 followed by the Class 5A state tournament later in October.
“Obviously it’s a little different when you have to make the top four instead of the top six (at conference tournament) to get to state,” Wright said. “That makes it a little bit tougher when you’ve still got eight teams. … We feel good about who we have and about our progress. Right now our focus is on how much better we can get.”