Area players advance at state tennis tourney

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association State Tennis Championships got off to a dry start, but things could quickly turned saturated in Monroe.

The tournament avoided rains in the Monroe area and were finishing up second-round matches as TheNews-Star went to press.

Although results were incomplete, many Northeastern Louisiana players were winners in the opening round.

In Division IV, St. Frederick girls doubles teams of Lily Ryan/Emery Miller and Mason Ryan/Ashlyn Hilburn advanced to the quarterfinals. On the boys side, St. Frederick doubles team of Waddih Fakhre/Brooks Hand also advanced to the quarterfinals.

William Barham and William Clausen of St. Frederick also advanced.

In girls singles, Cedar Creek's Margret Manning beat Samanth Sieberth of Runnels in the first-round and Lydia Weaver in the second-round to advance to Tuesday. Weaver had advanced to the second-round by beating Amanda Summers of Dunham.

Anna Lee of Cedar Creek is also in the quarterfinals after defeating Lindsey Chambley of Grace Christian followed by Emma Thomas of Central Catholic.

St. Frederick junior Blair Breard beat Bailey Davis of Dunham in the first-round before falling to Morgan Fremin of Ascension Catholic in the second-round.

In Division IV doubles: Robertson/Pruitt of Ouachita Christian beat Lacombe/Texada of Menard. The duo lost in the second-round to Cedar Creek pair Mills/Wood. The team of Mills/Wood beat Lowry/Pecoraro of ESA to advance to now get into the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

In Division III, area teams were not as successful. Cade Johnston of Caldwell lost to Jordan Daigle of Notre Dame High 6-0, 6-1 while Chanley Pardon of Sterlington lost to Brittney Nguyen of Ursuline. Luis Turrubiartes of Union Parish beat Jeffery Millet of St. Charles to advance to the second round.

The tournament will attempt to finish the final rounds of Division III and IV on Tuesday even though the National Weather Service has predicted a 90 percent chance of rain with rainfall likely to reach a quarter of an inch.

Tournament Director Kathryn Waters said the tournament was a huge success on Monday, and if the rains put a damper on the proceedings Tuesday, there is a fall back plan.

"The way things looked early (Monday) we thought we might not get any games in, but we did and everyone running this tournament, everyone involved, has been so cooperative and is doing a great job," Waters said. "We set up Wednesday to be a 'bumper day' so that if rains come in Tuesday we can get it in Wednesday before (Division I and II) begin play Thursday."

The tournament is also using an additional site because of the volume of people coming into the city to watch the tournament. Bayou DeSiard Country Club in Monroe is being used along with Forsythe Park and the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Connect with Cody on Twitter @cfutrellTNS or via e-mail cfutrell@thenewsstar.com