Tigers Place 3 Doubles Squads in Quarter Finals

May 31, 2011

Bardstown High School



Bardstown’s Gabi Hamilton smashes a winner in her and doubles partner Anna Jones’ second-round match win over Taylor County’s Elizabeth Thomas and Kaitlin McPhee. Jones and Hamilton were in action Tuesday after press time in a state tournament qualifier match.
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With three entrants remaining, Bardstown was in the best position to get a qualifier into next week’s state tennis championships in Lexington as of press time Tuesday morning. The Tigers had both girls’ doubles entrants and a boys’ doubles squad still alive after Monday’s second round.

“To have three that’s made it to the third round, that’s big,” Bardstown coach Bryan Kellem said. “It kind of speaks to what kind of year we’ve had. … Our tennis program is on the rise.”

Tuesday’s quarterfinal and semifinal matches were too late for this edition of The Kentucky Standard. Region championship matches begin at 5 p.m. today at the University Drive Courts at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College.

The Tigers sent No. 4 seed Clayton Brooks and John Stone up against Elizabethtown’s Hassan Haider and Griffin Davis, the No. 6 seed, in a state qualifier match Tuesday. The Tiger duo dispatched Central Hardin’s Vick Patel and Kevin Britt in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, Monday, and did the same to first-round opponents Chris Erich and Tanner Stallings, 6-0, 6-0.

Kellem said Brooks, a junior, seems to be over his recent bout with mononucleosis and playing well, and Stone, a senior, is motivated to postpone the end of his high school career as long as possible.

“Hopefully he’ll go out with a bang” and be part of Bardstown’s first state qualifier since 2005.

The girls’ doubles bracket features the heaviest local representation.

Bardstown’s No. 4-seeded Gabi Hamilton and Anna Jones faced Meade County’s unseeded duo of Kayla Keith and Brenna Wheatley in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. Jones and Hamilton drew a first-round bye, then beat Taylor County’s Elizabeth Thomas and Kaitlin McPhee, 6-2, 6-2, in Monday’s second round.

If Jones and Hamilton get past their Meade opponents, there’s a chance they could run into a familiar face in the semifinals. Shelby Perry and Rachel Derting, the No. 7 seed from Nelson County, played well Monday in taking care of business against Central Hardin’s Emilee O’Brien and Kate Hendrie, 6-3, 6-1.

Cardinal coach Don Campbell said Perry and Derting were apprehensive going into their match Monday, considering it was the first time they had faced the Central Hardin squad.

The Cardinal duo’s opponent for Tuesday was Elizabethtown’s No. 2-seeded sister squad of Madison and Mary Snow.

“They’re beatable,” Campbell said. “We’re just going to have to play the best tennis we’re capable of playing.”

Still alive in the top half of the girls’ doubles bracket as of Tuesday were the No. 6 seed from Bardstown, Brianna Patterson and Riley Smith, who had to dodge a bullet in the second round against Nelson’s Danielle Vincent and Ying Chan.

The Nelson squad opened in an unorthodox Australian Formation, where server and partner play on the same side in an effort to guard against cross-court returns. The format worked, somewhat, as the Cardinal duo took the first set from their Tiger counterparts, 7-5.

“For the first set it definitely threw us for a loop,” Kellem said. “Our girls needed to settle down.”

Settle down they did, as Patterson and Smith rebounded to take the next two sets by 6-2 scores.

“It’s been a really good competition” between the two squads, who have played five times this season, Campbell said. “I think that’s the first time we took a set from them.”

Patterson and Smith faced top-seeded Allison Riney and Natalie Fiepke of Elizabethtown in Tuesday’s quarterfinals with a state berth on the line.

Monday’s play saw the end of the road arrive for the last surviving local singles players.

Nelson County’s Savannah Wimsatt caught a first-round bye, but didn’t have any answers in the second round against No. 3 seed Jenna Mullen of Meade County, falling 6-1, 6-0.

Just a sophomore, Campbell said Wimsatt has a chance to be a late bloomer after just picking up the sport last year.

“She has a lot of talent and potential,” he said. “She’s got the mental attitude it takes. She hates to lose.”

Nelson County also had its doubles squad of Trust Upson and Mack Peterson get into the second round by way of a 7-6, 6-4 win Saturday over Bardstown’s Cole Cambron and Nathan Spalding, but the Cardinal combo fell Monday to No. 5 seed Brad Jackson and Tyler Sweat of Central Hardin, 6-2, 6-0.

Bethlehem’s Chris Conway made it into the second round with a 6-2, 6-0 win Saturday over Adair County’s Zach Mann. The Eagle junior’s reward was a second-round loss to top seed and defending champ Reza Haider of Elizabethtown, 6-0, 6-0.

In all, four of Bethlehem’s eight entries were eliminated by seeded players.

“It was tough,” Bethlehem coach Jane Sims said of her squad’s early exit. “It was hard on them because we drew the worst we could have.”

Sims only loses one senior, however, so she feels like this year’s region was good experience for her returnees.

“I think we’re just going to get better and better.”



Results

Saturday

Boys’ first round singles

Chris Conway (Bethlehem) def. Zach Mann (AC), 6-2, 6-0

No. 6 Alex Spalding (Marion) def. Spencer Smith (Bardstown), 6-0, 6-0

Tad Skaggs (CH) def. Ryan Stallings (NC), 6-1, 6-0

Patrick Ogden (Fort Knox) def. Ezra Surtees (Bethlehem), 6-0, 6-0

No. 5 Dylan Parr (LC) def. John Drury (Bardstown), 6-0, 6-0

Ryker Cassidy (Marion) def. Jackson Thompson (NC), 6-0, 6-0



Boys’ first round doubles

Kyle Mann/Eddie Franklin (AC) def. Barrett Greenwell/Riley Coots (Bethlehem), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

No. 4 Clayton Brooks/John Stone (Bardstown) def. Chris Erich/Ryan Stallings (NC), 6-0, 6-0

Mack Peterson/Trust Upson (NC) def. Nathan Spalding/Cole Cambron (Bardstown), 7-6, 6-4

Andrew Wooley/Luke Keen (AC) def. Adam Rogers/Jonah Winebrenner (Bethlehem), 6-0, 6-1



Monday

Girls’ second round singles

No. 3 Jenna Mullen (Meade) def. Savannah Wimsatt (NC), 6-1, 6-0

No. 4 Hannah Thomas (CH) def. Emalea Bischoff (Bardstown), 6-2, 6-0



Girls’ second round doubles

No. 6 Brianna Patterson/Riley Smith (Bardstown) def. Danielle Vincent/Ying Chan (NC), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2

No. 4 Gabi Hamilton/Anna Jones (Bardstown) def. Elizabeth Thomas/Kaitlin McPhee (TC), 6-2, 6-2

No. 7 Shelby Perry/Rachel Derting (NC) def. Emilee O’Brien/Kate Hendrie (CH), 6-3, 6-1



Boys’ second round singles

No. 1 Reza Haider (E’town) def. Chris Conway (Bethlehem), 6-0, 6-0



Boys’ second round doubles

No. 4 Brooks/Stone (Bardstown) def. Patel/Britt (CH), 6-1, 6-4

No. 5 Jackson/Sweat (CH) def. Upson/Peterson (NC), 6-2, 6-0