Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Tiger Duo Takes Third
PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove’s boys doubles team of Micah Sam and Cole Vertz defeated Nashville’s Matt Hibbard and Alberto Pioquinto, 8-5, to bring home third place from the 4A State tennis tournament.
Sam said the competition at the State 4A tennis tournament held Oct. 14-15 on the campus of the University of the Ozarks at Clarksville was tough.
“We saw a lot of teams we’re not used to facing and they were really good. We got kids from all around,” Sam said. “We played a lot of different players that play differently than we’ve seen before and some highly-skilled players.”
Prairie Grove coach Dana Froud believes the third place finish is the highest ever achieved by Prairie Grove at state tennis competition while noting former coach Shelley Dougan had a girl advance to the state semifinals.
“My boys made it to the semifinals, then lost to Pulaski Academy (Nate Byrd/Jake Rogers),” Froud said. “They went 3-1 at the state tournament. Once you get to state, depending on how good you are, you play until you meet the private school kids who have had tennis lessons and grew up in a country club. My kids didn’t grow up in that environment.”
Sam and Vertz, the 4A-1 District champions, drew a No. 3 seed. They defeated Max Henson and Ryan Clark, of Wynne, 6-1, 6-2, in the first-round.
Sam admitted he and Vertz had to get over some jitters as they started off the tournament.
“It was our first match together at state so it was an interesting experience, but we were able to pull away with a win,” Sam said.
The Tigers got past Spencer Allen and Mason McKinney, of Arkadelphia, in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-5. Sam and Vertz lost a semifinal match, 6-1, 6-0, to Byrd and Rogers, of Pulaski Academy, who finished second in the tournament.
Sam said the boys focused on going for third and didn’t dwell on the loss. Sam said Nashville’s boys doubles team put up a fight, yet the Prairie Grove duo bounced back with an 8-5 win in the consolation match to place third, living up to their seeding.
“I was pretty confident they would do well,” Froud said. “They finished where I thought they might.”
The Tiger dynamic duo only began competing as a doubles team a week before school started. Froud immediately recognized their potential and acknowledged their progress over the course of the season.
“They just needed to get that chemistry together and develop the communications level and I definitely saw that,” Froud said.
Froud said the boys started to realize their own capabilities and drew confidence from beating Farmington’s Joshua Jowers and Noah Disheroon, who reached the 2018 State 4A semifinals and placed third, in the 4A-1 District finals.
“We started off as a third seed so we got a pretty good place in the tournament,” Sam said. “I’m pretty proud of that. It helped us a lot,” Sam said.
Sam and Vertz received All-State tennis honors by virtue of reaching the consolation match.
Farmington’s Jowers and Disheroon were seeded eighth after losing the District 4A-1 finals to Sam and Vertz. They defeated Jake Nielson and Sam Trout, of Magnolia, 6-2, 6-3, in the first-round but were eliminated by Elliot and Lewis, of Pulaski Academy, 6-1, 6-2, in the quarterfinals. Elliot and Lewis won the tournament by defeating their teammates, Byrd and Rogers, in the finals, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.
BOYS SINGLES
Farmington’s Conner Kennedy lost in the first round to eventual state champion, Foster Rogers, of Pulaski Academy, 6-0, 6-0. On the other side of the bracket Farmington’s Gavin Pennington, also drew a Pulaski Academy opponent in the first-round and was beaten, 6-0, 6-0, by Anthony Tran, who finished as State Runner-up to Rogers.
GIRLS SINGLES
Prairie Grove’s Sarah Myane won her first set, 6-2, but dropped the next two sets, 6-3, 6-4, to Alicia Salazar, of De Queen, and was ousted in the first round.