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By: Chris Evans
Almost a three hour drive and 170 miles away, the Guthrie tennis team took advantage of the road trip to Altus for the Big West Tourney with both the boys and girls teams finishing in the top three.
The Bluejays brought home the third place trophy while the Lady Jays walked away with the second place trophy.
William Bohanan and Josh Wehrenberg competed in No.2 doubles and brought home a second place finish. The duo took care of a team from Wellington, Texas quickly with a 6-1, 6-1 decisive win, but according to head coach Mary Hudson the team struggled in the beginning of their second match with second seeded Altus, but responded with the win in three sets.
In the finals, Bohanan and Wehrenberg lost to the duo from Shawnee 6-4, 6-2, but Hudson was satisfied with their effort.
"I was really proud of the way they played Shawnee. Copeland from that team (Shawnee) is the defending state champion of No. 2 doubles. He has a new partner, but they still are a state contending team. Bohanan and Wehrenberg played a great match. I look for them to only get better each week as they gain confidence. This was their first tournament to play together at the No. 2 doubles spot as Bohanan has been in basketball and Wehrenberg has been playing No. 2 singles," Hudson said.
In No. 1 doubles, the team of Daniel Breedlove and Hank Hudson brought home a second place finish as well. Alike their teammates Bohanan and Wehrenberg, Breedlove and Hudson cruised in their first round with a 6-1, 6-0 win over El Reno. In the semis it was the same domination with a 6-1, 6-2 wins over the host team Altus. In the championship match, it was Guthrie and Shawnee, again, and Shawnee got the upper hand once again. Shawnee got the win with 6-1 decisions.
"This doubles team was the state runners-up last year at No. 1 doubles," Hudson said. "They had really tight games with them, but just could not finish the games to come out on top."
In the boys singles action, Michael Oates placed fourth in No.1 singles and Corey Cain finished sixth in No. 2 singles.
Cain, in his second match, took down his Chickasha opponent 6-3, 6-3 before dropping his last match.
Oates took three sets to win his first round match, but would drop straight sets to El Reno's stand-out basketball player Taylor Wedman. In the third place match, Oates lost 6-2, 6-2 to Heath Pratt of Chickasha.
On the ladies singles bracket, Brittney Berryman competed for the first time since winning the Ardmore Tournament and came away with a second place finish in No. 2 singles division.
Berryman took down Stephanie Canizales of Western Heights, 6-3 6-3, before dropping Taylor Thompson of Shawnee with 6-1 decisions. In her finals match, it would go three sets before a Wellington, Texas player took home the medal with sets of 6-7, 6-3, and 6-1.
Hudson said that the No. 1 singles division was a tough draw, but Kaitlyn Wade competed hard and finished with a fourth place finish.
Wade took down her Chickasha opponent with 6-2 decisions before losing to Caitlin Clark of Memphis, Texas in the next round. In Wade's final match, she endured a long hard fought battle, but would drop 6-2 and 7-5 sets.
Hudson last week talked about her No. 1 doubles team in Amy Hudson and Janie Nolen needing to compete a little more tougher after Spring Break and after the Big West Tourney the message might of been delivered with a second place showing.
Wins over El Reno (6-1, 6-0) and Altus (6-2, 6-0) put the duo in the finals with Shawnee, but the Wolves again would come away with the win in competitive sets 7-5 and 6-3.
"These two are playing with more confidence, they just need to cut down on their double faults and missed serve returns and then they will be able pull out their closer matches," Mary Hudson said.
In No. 2 doubles the Powell combo of Brooke and Paige came away with a third place finish with two wins and only losing too Altus. The Powell team started this season playing junior varsity, but Mary Hudson bumped the team up to the varsity level where they have competed well.
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