Two rounds down (almost), six local players moving on.
The Region 8 tennis tournaments started Monday with the girls playing at Western Hills and the boys at Franklin County.
At WHHS, both of Frankfort High’s singles players advanced to the third round, as did one FCHS and one Western Hills doubles team.
FHS’ Jenna Miller, seeded fifth, and her sister Lydia both won two matches as did Franklin County’s doubles team of Brooke Barber and Sydney Preston, seeded eighth, and the WHHS doubles team of Angel Mitchell and Megan Farney.
WHHS’ Robert Greenwell is the only local player still alive in the boys tournament. His second-round match against fourth-seeded Payton Roberts of Oldham County was delayed Monday night by weather and will be completed today.
The third round of the tournaments will be played today beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the same sites. The semifinals and finals for both boys and girls will be played at FCHS on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Monday Jenna Miller, a junior, lost just one game in her two matches, defeating Spencer County’s Leah Shelburne 6-0, 6-0 and Western Hills’ Anita Shanker 6-0, 6-1.
“She’s a talented young lady,” FHS coach Sherrill Smith said. “She was 12-2 in regional play this year.”
She’ll play second-seeded Paige Kregor of Collins today in the third round.
Today Lydia Miller will face the No. 4 seed, South Oldham’s Stephanie Pitts, the second seeded player she has played in the tournament.
On Monday Lydia won 6-0, 6-0 over Williamstown’s Sarah Hicks in the first round. In the second round her opponent was Franklin County’s Lili Williams, seeded eighth, and Miller won 6-3, 6-3.
“Lydia really mixed up her game today,” Smith said. “She used a lot of different shots, a lot of top spin, and she mixed up the pace on the ball.”
Lydia, a seventh-grader, went 13-1 against regional competition this season.
“My doubles teams, even though they lost, played very well,” Smith said.
The Lady Panthers’ doubles teams were Georgia Ueltschi and Emily Ballantyne, who lost to seventh-seeded Amanda Wampler and Hannah Wampler of Anderson County 6-0, 6-0, and Mackenzie Sanders and Leighann Neal, who lost to WHHS’ Farney and Mitchell 6-0, 6-0.
FCHS coach Melinda Lewis was pleased with the performance of her team, which last year didn’t have any players make it past the second round.
“We have one doubles team in the third round, and we’re very happy about that,” she said.
Barber and Preston met Gallatin County’s Kristina Tunstall and Deanna Griffin in the first round and won 6-0, 6-1. In the second round they defeated Anderson County’s Allison Goodlett and Scarlett Sullivan 6-1, 6-0.
“They all made it through the first round,” Lewis said. “They played great. We had a pizza party last night and made signs for today, building camaraderie. We want them to have fun and to come off the court smiling and happy. I’m real proud of them.”
In the Lady Flyers’ other matches, Williams defeated Spencer County’s Lydia Tackett 6-1, 6-0 in the first round. Kelley Barker won 6-1, 6-1 over Gallatin County’s Rendy White in the first round and fell to seventh-seeded Natalie Dearen of South Oldham 6-1, 6-1 in the second round.
The FCHS doubles team of Abbi Stamper and Deena Shewekah won in the first round, beating Shelby County’s Mallory Dove and Alanah Salama 6-2, 6-1.
They faced the fifth-seeded team of Jennifer Liu and Sarah Hawes of South Oldham in the second round with Liu and Hawes winning 6-2, 6-4.
WHHS’ Farney and Mitchell pulled an upset in the second round, defeating Oldham County’s Rachel Kopecky and Hannah Grace 7-5, 6-4. Kopecky and Grace were seeded sixth.
Farney and Mitchell defeated Frankfort’s Sanders and Neal 6-0, 6-0 in the first round. Today they’ll face top-seeded Taylor McGuire and Nicole Walton of North Oldham.
In the other match involving a WHHS doubles team Gallatin County’s Savannah Clark and Amelia Samuel defeated Diana Rudic and Megan Sharp 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
The Lady Wolverines’ singles players were Jenny Carr, who lost to Anderson County’s Hannah Lewis 6-1, 6-4, and Shanker, who defeated Williamstown’s Savannah Moss 6-1, 6-0 before losing to Jenna Miller.
On the boys side, Greenwell reached the second round with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Ben Spear of Anderson County.
Also reaching the second round in singles was WHHS’ Henry Collett and FCHS’ Drew Greenawalt. Collett defeated Carroll County’s Josh McCarty 6-1, 6-0 and then lost to third-seeded Steven Mayborg of South Oldham 6-0, 6-0.
Greenawalt took a 6-1, 6-3 win over Gallatin County’s Trevor Lewis in the first round but lost to seventh-seeded Ben McDonald of Anderson County 6-0, 6-0 in the second round.
The Wolverines had one doubles team reach the second round. Trey Badgett and Kodey Hickman defeated Trimble County’s Damon Husband and Brandon Bird in the first round 6-0, 6-0.
In the second round the seventh-seeded team of Reese Milburn and Hunter Norris of Bullitt East defeated Badgett and Hickman 7-5, 6-4.
The other local competitors Monday and the results of their first-round matches are listed below.
Bullitt East’s Evan Reister and Zach Marlett defeated FHS’ Nick Ballantyne and Matthew Bailey 6-1, 6-1.
Fifth-seeded Luis Bonet and Nathan Geil of Oldham County defeated WHHS’ Will Grasch and Max Bringmann 6-4, 6-4.
North Oldham’s Seth Wallace and John Newton defeated FHS’ Logan Brothers and Noah Bates 6-2, 6-0.
Anderson County’s Tyler Glover and T.J. Pham defeated FCHS’ Eric Lowe and Clay Marshall 6-0, 6-1.
Second-seeded Doug Martin and Jeron Russell of Shelby County defeated FCHS’ Joshua Young and Sean Jarboe 6-0, 6-0.
Fourth-seeded Payton Roberts of Oldham County defeated FHS’ James Murphy 6-3, 5-7, 6-0.
Fifth-seeded Sergio Pascual of Carroll County defeated FCHS’ Alex Mucci 6-0, 6-0.
Third-seeded Steven Mayborg of South Oldham defeated FHS’ Seth Midkiff 6-0, 6-0.
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