 |
|||||||||||||||
|
By: Chris Evans
The Suburban Conference got a boost this tennis season when Deer Creek joined the conference for a 9 team league. The Lady Jays wrapped up 4th place overall while the Bluejays landed 3rd overall in the conference tournament.
The highest finish for the Bluejays came from the No. 1 doubles team of Hank Hudson and Daniel Breedlove with a 3rd place finish including a big win over Carl Albert in their final match 6-4, 6-2.
"Hank and Daniel are on a roll beating Carl Albert three times in a row. They lost to them earlier in the season, so that is big and I hope will play into their regional and state seedings," head coach Mary Hudson said.
The No. 2 doubles team, Will Bohanan and Josh Wehrenberg, finished with a 4th place showing including a first round win over Chickasha before dropping matches to Shawnee and Harrah.
Michael Oates, playing No. 1 singles, finished in 4th place that included a win over his Deer Creek opponent 6-0, 6-1 while No. 2 singles Corey Cain also had a 4th place showing. Cain also took down his Deer Creek opponent before dropping his next two matches.
Lady Jays in Conference Tournament
In singles action, No. 1 singles Kaitlyn Wade placed 6th by going 1-2 on the day with a win over Stephanie Canizales, of Western Heights, 6-2, 6-0 and in No. 2 singles, Brittney Berryman finished 3rd.
"She (Wade) played great in Duncan and then turned around and did not have a great start at the Suburban Conference. She needs to play like she did last weekend with regionals and state coming up this next week," Hudson said.
Berryman won her first match against Abbie Anderson, ofPiedmont, 6-0, 6-0, but then lost to Niki Haddad, from Shawnee, 6-0, 6-4. In the third round, she beat Chung Nguyen, from Western Heights, 6-4, 6-0, and in the third place match defeated Hunter Conover, from Carl Albert, 6-1, 6-4.
The No. 1 doubles team of Janie Nolen and Amy Hudson finished 3rd while the No. 2 team of Brooke Powell and Paige Powell ended up with a 4th place finish.
Hudson and Nolen defeated Chickasha 6-1, 6-1, but would lose to the Carl Albert duo in a three set match, but then would defeat Harrah for third place
"They had just beaten this team (Carl Albert) at the Duncan tournament so this was a disappointing loss," Hudson said. "Amy and Janie really needed to beat Carl Albert again because we had split with them and we had the latest win going into the Suburban Conference. They came from behind in the first set to win it and then just could not pull out the next two sets. They may see this team again at the Heritage Hall Tournament and, or regionals, so hopefully they will get them then."
The Powell duo got their only victory in the first round when they took down Deer Creek.
The tennis squads will finish their regular season with Heritage Hall on Thursday and Friday before gearing up for regionals and the state tournament.
"We need to be on our A game next week. I know the Heritage Hall tournament will be really tough, but great competition going into regionals and state," Hudson said.
Share your thoughts on this story by going to the Guthrie Sports Page message board. It's free to join and talk Guthrie athletics. Click Here!