Class 6A champions pull double dip
NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Another overwhelming performance allowed the Swope brothers to make it a clean sweep in 2020.
Hayden and Carter Swope of Springdale Har-Ber started and finished fast to beat Bentonville’s Vikram Balasekaran and Nikky Simpson 6-4, 6-2 to win the doubles championship in the boys state Overall tennis tournament Tuesday afternoon at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
The victory was the third major high school title this season for Har-Ber’s duo. They won the 6A-West Conference, the Class 6A state title nearly two weeks later, then closed things out against their conference rivals.
“Oh man, this feels great,” Carter Swope said. “To be a freshman and win conference, state and Overalls all in one year … but it feels a lot better to do it with someone like Hayden. We’re just so good together.”
Rogers standout Collin Matthews was equally as good in his return bout with Little Rock Central’s Jake Maxson in the singles final, although it was cut short.
Matthews led 5-0 in the first set when Maxson retired from the match because of an ailment. The two met a week ago in the Class 6A final, won by Matthews 6-2, 7-6.
“Yeah, injuries are tough,” said Matthews, who also won the 6A-West title. “It stinks that he wasn’t able to finish the match. He played a good tournament, and I wish he’d been able to finish. But if he’s hurt, he’s hurt.
“But for me, it feels good to win it.” Those feelings were shared by the Swope siblings, who cruised through the two-day event.
After receiving a first-round bye, they gave up three games total in their first two matches, all of which occurred during their 6-2, 6-1 semifinal victory over Jonesboro’s Ethan Richardson and Carson Fowler earlier that morning. The two relinquished twice as many games to Balasekaran and Simpson in the final, but Hayden Swope said the brothers’ connection was the key in the end.
“We just know each other really well,” he said. “We know how to pump each other up, how to get ourselves back focused. We were just determined from Day One to be here. “It really paid off, all the hard work.” Hayden Swope, who finished runner-up for the doubles championship last year with Conor Clardy, said Tuesday’s match was officially the fifth time they had played Balasekaran and Simpson. The two teams were set to face each other in last week’s Class 6A
title match until an illness forced Balasekaran and Simpson to withdraw.
The Bentonville pair played well in stretches, but were broken twice in the second set. That gave the Swopes the opening they needed to establish control, with Carter Swope eventually serving out the match.
“I’m glad it was him and not me, to be honest,” said Hayden Swope, a senior, about who served out the match. “He was focused and dialed in. I was banking on him to do it.”
Girls
After her match Tuesday against Valley View’s Cydney Rogers, Fort Smith Northside’s Kate Files said she had to be on top of her game to win.
Her play during crucial moments showed that she achieved her goal.
Files broke Rogers three times during the second set — including on match point — to win
6-4, 7-5 and capture the singles title in the girls state Overall tennis tournament at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
“I knew I just had to play well and stay focused,” Files said. “Cydney is a great player. We’re really good friends. But this one means a lot to me.”
The doubles title means a lot to Jenna Kate Bohnert and Grace Lueders of Rogers as well, and the juniors rallied to beat Leena Cashman and Naya Kessman of Haas Hall Fayetteville 3-6,
6-3, 6-4.
“Oh man, this is special,” said Bohnert, who teamed with Lueders to win the doubles title at Overall last year as well. “We kind of loosened up a little bit eventually. That may not make much sense because we were down a set. But we were like, ‘OK, we need to settle down,’ and we focused more on doing that.
“We were giving them shots that they could easily put away. And we were trying to rally from the baseline, but that’s not how we usually play. Our game is at the net.”
Bohnert and Lueders swung the match back in their favor after Kessman and Cashman broke serve on the final game of the opening set to take charge.
The defending overall champions kept play near the net in the second set, winning the last three games to send the match into a deciding set.
They exchanged breaks to get to 2-2 before Bohnert and Lueders held their third service game of the set — the only service game either team won — then broke Kessman and Cashman again to lead 4-2. They staved off several rallies to pick up the victory.
“It’s amazing, especially since this is our second time,” Lueders said. “I feel like the most challenging thing was the pressure. There were high expectations, too, but we were able to pull through.”
Files also had high aspirations for Tuesday, particularly because of the close calls she’s had during her career. She was the runner-up in the state’s largest classification her freshman year, then was third in both 2018 and 2019. Files also finished second at last week’s Class 6A tournament.
“I’ve been really close to winning state my last couple of years,” said Files, whose left thigh was heavily wrapped after pulling some tissue a few weeks ago. “I just wanted to come out here and do my best. So to finally do it at Overalls, it feels really good.”
The senior used two breaks to win the first set, then held a 5-3 lead in the second set before Rogers stormed back to tie it at 5-5.
Files held serve on the next game, then broke the three-time Class 4A singles champion again to close out the victory.