Bulldogs control tourney
HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

Photo by Lester Murray A BUSY DAY - Kilgore's Meredith Gregg (above) took on the opposition on the court, then successfully made the KHS varsity cheerleading squad Friday.

After playing the entire spring season on the road, the Kilgore High School tennis team finally got to do something other than just practice on their home courts.

Kilgore hosted a big tournament Friday, and did well. The tournament was conducted at the KHS courts, the courts at Maude Laird Middle School, and the courts at LeTourneau University.

"We had a great day of tennis," coach Jason Maroney said. "Our team did really well, winning the first place team trophy. We won three of the five divisions, and got second in another."

Gutsiest-performer-of-the-day award goes to girls No. 1 single Haley Smith, who has been playing on a bad ankle. "Haley Smith was a sight to see today," Maroney said. "She was on crutches at all times that she wasn't playing. She would go onto the court with the crutches, and leave with the crutches."

All this, and Smith won first place in girls singles.

Photo by Lester Murray GREAT TOURNAMENT - Kilgore players like Trevar Compton (above, foreground) and Callie Cunyus (background) helped the Bulldogs win three of five divisions in Friday's tennis tournament here.

Another player battling a foot injury, Maroney noted, is Trevar Compton, but he overcame that, as well - Compton and partner Callie Cunyus won the mixed doubles division, and did it in spite of Compton's pain and in hectic circumstances.

"Callie had an awesome day," Maroney explained. "Not only did she win first place at our tournament, but she also made varsity cheerleader."

Cheerleader tryouts were going on as mixed doubles competition was yesterday, and both Cunyus and teammate Meredith Gregg were bouncing back and forth between the two. And both successfully made the cheerleading squad as well.

A couple of other notes, as mentioned by Maroney:

• Boys doubles team Josh Bailey and Jody Madding got their first tournament win of the spring. "They defeated two pretty good doubles teams from our district, so hopefully, we will be able to get them a pretty high seed for the district tournament." That's what spring tournaments are about: getting ready for district, then hopefully for regionals and state. The District 12-4A tournament will be played April 8-9 in Jacksonville.

• Maroney also bragged on Chelsey Cox and Naomi Worden, two junior varsity players who played with "the big team," and knocked off the No. 1 seed in the girls doubles quarterfinals, finishing second on the day.

"We let them play as extras," the coach said. "I guess they decided they could hang with the big girls."

Kilgore finished with 68 points. Spring Hill had 51 for second, and Whitehouse and White Oak each finished with 42.

- In boys singles, Richard Corbyn of Whitehouse beat Gladewater's Aaron Cates, 6-2, 6-2 in the finals. For KHS, Kilgore's Trent Raby beat Pine Tree's Kris Cho, 8-4, in the consolation (Raby lost his first match, then won three straight). Also in boys singles for Kilgore, Josh Way beat Jimmy Cooper of Hallsville, 8-1, then lost in the next round to Benton Burrow of Quitman, 6-4, 6-4. Kade Bittick beat Austin Simmons of White Oak, 8-4, then lost to Cates, 6-4, 6-2.

- As mentioned, Smith gutted it out and won girls singles. She beat four people along the way, finishing off White Oak's Brittany Stone, 6-3, 6-4, in the finals. Also for Kilgore, Emily Spence and Gregg competed in girls singles play. Spence won a pair of matches, beating Commerce's April Neal, 8- 0, then beating Whitehouse's Jessica Sibbing, 8-4, before losing to Stone, 6-3, 6-3. Gregg beat Gilmer's Karen Lopez, 8-1, then lost to Trinity's Katherine Taylor, 8-0.

- Madding and Bailey took home the boys doubles crown. They beat four teams to do it, winding up with a victory over McKown and McKown in the finals, 6-2, 6-2.

Ethan High and Joe Worden won their first match, beating a Hallsville team of Somers and Cayce, 8-3, but lost in the second round to a team from Quitman. Kilgore's Jeremy Berryhill and Chance Grantham lost their first match to a team from Whitehouse, then beat the Edwards-Williams team from Gladewater, 8-5, before losing to Alm and Wallis of Spring Hill by that same score.

- Three Kilgore teams did very well in girls doubles play. Cox and Worden, our JV girls, made it all the way to the finals before losing to the team from Spring Hill, 6-3, 6- 3. Also making it to the semis were the KHS teams of Lauren Terry and Caitlind Trowbridge, as well as Emily Mitis and Brittany Conner. Conner and Mitis lost to the Spring Hill team in the semis, and Terry and Trowbridge lost to Cox and Worden.

Third place, Maroney said, will be decided between the two Kilgore teams (Terry and Trowbridge and Mitis and Conner) at a later date.

- Trying out for cheerleader didn't distract Cunyus and Compton from their mission. The Kilgore pair beat a team of Crumpler and Chamness of Pine Tree in the mixed doubles finals, 6-2, 6-2. Compton and Cunyus won three matches on the day, including the finals.

Also representing Kilgore in mixed doubles play was the team of Eric Applegate and Shelby Duncan. Applegate and Duncan beat a Hallsville team, 8-2, in the first round, then lost to Crumpler and Chamness in the quarters.