KHS tennis gets in final workouts before district
HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

Photo by Lester Murray GUNNING FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP - Kilgore High School girls No. 1 single Haley Smith (above) got a little work in on Thursday against Grace Community School before the rain-out. Smith and her KHS teammates will compete in the District 12-4A tournament at Jacksonville High School, beginning Tuesday.

It wasn't a lot of work - they were rained out late - but the Kilgore High School tennis team did get in some preparation on Thursday afternoon for next week's District 12-4A tournament at Jacksonville High School, to be played Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kilgore hosted a tri-match Thursday with Sulphur Springs and Grace Community School in Tyler, but the Bulldogs weren't able to finish their matches against Grace before the rains came.

"Against Sulphur Springs, not everyone was able to play because (Sulphur) only brought a partial team," KHS coach Jason Maroney explained. "I thought we got some good practice against them. The boys doubles match and mixed doubles were probably the best matchups."

Kilgore won five of the six matches with Sulphur, and had started their faceoffs against Grace, but those were rained out, as mentioned.

Against Sulphur Springs, Kilgore's Meredith Gregg and Lauren Terry beat Sulphur's Alejandro Lira and Karen Mora, 6-3, 6-1. In boys singles, Kilgore's Josh Way beat Luke Penny, 6-0, 6-1, and Kade Bittick beat Sulphur's Garrett Swatsell, 6-3, 6-0.

Josh Bailey and Jody Madding picked up a win for the Bulldogs in boys doubles, beating Robert Stevens and Zack Adams, 6-4, 6-3, and Ethan High and Joe Worden also won, beating Sulphur's Kade Winborn and Dillon Smith, 6-2, 6-4.

In mixed doubles play, Kilgore's Eric Applegate and Shelby Duncan lost to Josh Stoltenberg and Shelby Carter, 4-6, 5-7.

See district pairings and a preview of the 12-4A championship, from a Kilgore perspective, in Sunday's News Herald.

In spring tennis, high school players qualify for regionals as individuals, not as teams, as it is in the fall season. So Kilgore will be hoping to get as many regional qualifiers (for the regional tournament in Denton late this month) as possible. +