PHS tennis stars shine in summer league

It's been a busy summer for PHS tennis coach Paul Seegraves, as he held his annual summer league for boys and girls at the municipal tennis courts. The summer league play culminated recently with a tournament for participants July 22, with seven boys taking part and 12 girls. There also was a consolation tournament for the girls held July 29.

Beau Wicker took top honors of the seven boys playing in the round-robin tournament, beating freshman Trevor Grubb in the final 6-2.

In first round action it was Quinton Mauldin over Hunter Holcomb, Grubb beat Gary Petago and third-seeded Jacob Wellman downed Drew Adams.

In the consolation bracket was Adams over Petago 6-0 in the semi-final and 6-2 past Holcomb in the final.

The semi-finals saw Wicker eliminate Mauldin 6-1 while Grubb got by Wellman 7-5. In the third place match it was Mauldin over Wellman 6-4.

There were 12 girls competing in three divisions that took part in the six-match format. Winner of the red division was Haley French with a record of 6-0, while Katelynn Woodard won the black division with a record of 4-2 and Emilee Seegraves took the white division crown with a record of 5-1.

In the girl's bracket in first round play it was Taylor Covert over Meghan Woodard, Sadie Sawyers then beat Woodard, Seegraves beat Halee Arnold and then fell to Chelsea Covarrubia. Also in the first round, Hallie Vannada beat Jerica Tate.

In quarterfinal play French beat Covert, Alex Scheffler downed Sawyers, Covarrubia defeated Seegraves and Graddy got by Vannada. In semi-final play it was French over Scheffler 6-1 and Covarrubia beat Graddy 6-2. Scheffler then got by Graddy 6-3 to earn third place honors and French took the title with the win over Covarrubia.

July 29 the consolation tournament was held for the girls, with Covert over Tate and Arnold beating Woodard in the first round. In second round play Vannada beat Woodard and Arnold downed Covert. And, in the semi's it was Vannada past Arnold while Seegraves downed Sawyers.

The third place game went to Arnold as she beat Sawyers 6-2, and Seegraves got by Vannada 6-3 to take the consolation title.

Practice for the PHS girl's tennis team, which includes players in grades nine through 12, will be held beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11. Practice for the boys will begin at 4 p.m. that same day, and that team also will consist of players in the ninth through 12th grades. All practices are held at the municipal courts on South Garfield.

The Mohawk tennis team will begin their season Thursday, Aug. 26 as they take on Riverside at Jonesboro. They'll play their first conference match, against Earle, Monday, Aug. 30 and will also take on CRA that day.

Aug. 31 they'll visit Pocahontas, Sept. 7 and they'll take on conference foes Harding Academy and Harrisburg at Jonesboro. Sept. 13 will be the first home match as they host Caruthersville. Sept. 16 they'll visit Pocahontas and Sept. 20 they'll travel to Corning for a conference set. The Bobcats will return the favor, and visit Piggott a week later on Sept. 27. A tri-match with Cave City, Harrisburg and Earle will be played at Jonesboro to close out the regular season Monday, Oct. 4.

The district tennis tournament will be held Oct. 7 at Jonesboro, with the state tournament scheduled for Oct. 18 and 19 at Burn's Park in North Little Rock.

Players, parents or fans wanting more information on the Mohawk tennis program may call Seegraves at 598-5690.