Russellville girls’ tennis team finishes section runner-up, clinches spot in state championship tourney
In a highly-competitive two-day meet, the Russellville High School varsity girls’ tennis team once again clinched a spot in the AHSAA state tennis championship tournament after finishing runner-up in Class 4A-5A Section 8. Russellville’s boys’ team missed out on qualifying, placing third in the sectional for the second year in-a-row.
On Monday and Tuesday, Russellville hosted the girls’ and boys’ Class 4A-5A Section 8 tennis tournaments at the Russellville Tennis Complex. Both RHS teams competed well, but only one was ultimately able to qualify for state tournament play.
Section 8, which also includes Brooks, Deshler, Central, Wilson, Haleyville, and Priceville, ultimately went to the Deshler girls and boys—both DHS teams are reigning section champs and state runners-up from last season.
In the girls’ standings, RHS eked past third-place Wilson by four points. On the boys’ side, Wilson finished runner-up with Russellville just behind the Warriors with 31 points.
In girls’ singles competition, all six RHS players—Lily Cate Pace, Josie Burcham, Lakin Derrick, Kennley Francisco, Maria Gonzalez, and Ella Copeland—advanced out of the opening round of the tournament fairly easily. Burcham, the No. 1 seed in flight two, automatically qualified for the semifinal round.
In the next round, three of RHS’ six semifinalists moved on to their flight championship match with Burcham defeating Brooks’ Madeline Walton 6-1, 6-1; Gonzalez beating Wilson’s Liza Davis 7-5, 6-1; and Copeland eliminating Ella Burns of Wilson 6-0, 6-0.
Eliminated in the semifinals were Pace, who fell to Deshler’s Abigail Black 6-4, 6-2; Derrick, who lost to Alexis Bennington of Wilson 6-2, 7-6; and Francisco, who was toppled by Deshler’s Bailey Thompkins 6-2, 6-1.
Unfortunately for the Lady Golden Tigers, their three finalists—Burcham, Gonzalez, and Copeland—ran into a Deshler buzzsaw in the championship round—the Lady Tigers swept all six singles titles. Burcham took her final to a tiebreaker but was ultimately beaten by Campbell Norris 3-6, 6-1, 1-0. Gonzalez fell to Olivia Adams 6-2, 6-4, and Copeland lost to Adeline Norris 6-3, 6-0.
In the doubles portion of the tournament, girls’ doubles action saw Russellville’s teams of Lily Cate Pace and Josie Burcham, Lakin Derrick and Kennley Francisco, and Maria Gonzalez and Nelly Juarez advance past round one to the semifinals.
Pace and Burcham, the second-seeded team in the first flight, defeated Haleyville’s Allie Tidwell and Sophi Sparks 6-2, 6-0 before falling to Central’s Madison Brewer and Macy Aldridge 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 in the semis. Derrick and Francisco, the two-seed in flight two, as well, eliminated the team of Ester Ladd and Tori Durham of Priceville 6-0, 6-0 in the opening round but was knocked out by Wilson’s Liza Davis and Myla Sanders in the semifinal round 6-4, 6-2.
Gonzalez and Juarez, the top-seeded team in flight three, automatically advanced to the semis where they faced Marlee Gurley and Becca Bailey from Central. The Golden Tiger duo defeated Central’s 6-1, 6-4 to go to the championship round where they faced Deshler’s Adeline Norris and Olivia Adams. In the final, Gonzalez and Juarez were defeated by the Deshler pair 6-1, 6-2.
The Lady Golden Tigers will travel to Mobile next week to participate in the AHSAA Class 4A-5A state tennis championships. The matches are set to be played April 20-24 at the Mobile Tennis Center.
In boys’ singles play, Russellville played well and ended the section tourney with one individual champ. All six Golden Tigers—David Tomas, Josue Tomas, Braxton Duncan, Jeremey Velez, Walfre Martinez, and Victor Vargas—advanced past the first round.
In the semifinals, three Golden Tigers were eliminated and three moved on to play in the championship round.
David Tomas, Duncan, and Martinez were all beaten with Tomas and Duncan both falling to Wilson competitors. Tomas was beaten by James Mallette 6-3, 6-0, and Duncan lost to Liam Sanders 6-0, 6-1. Martinez was knocked out by Deshler’s Calvin Whitson 6-2, 6-4.
Josue Tomas, defeating Central’s Sam Eddins 6-2, 6-3; Velez, beating Brooks’ Eli Davis 6-4, 6-4; and Vargas, beating Wilson’s Kolt Carter, moved on to play in singles title matches. Velez took eventual champion Mason Kirk of Wilson to the tiebreaker but couldn’t pull it out, losing 6-3, 1-6, 1-0. Vargas finished runner-up to Deshler’s Brice Letson 6-3, 7-5.
Tomas, the top seed in his flight, was the only Golden Tiger to win a championship—he beat Wilson’s Noah Hetrick 6-4, 6-4.
Russellville’s boys also saw all three doubles teams advance to the semifinals before being eliminated.
In round one of flight one, David Tomas and Josue Tomas, the two-seed, defeated Priceville’s Michael Bryztwa and Jay Patel 6-0, 6-0 to move on. The third-seeded team of Braxton Duncan and Jeremey Velez knocked out Priceville’s Braxton Burr and Grayson Brightwell 6-1, 6-0 and Victor Vargas and Kevin Barrientos beat Priceville’s Daniel Kirby and Ty Johnson 6-0, 6-0.
In the boys’ doubles semifinals Wilson’s James Mallette and Noah Hetrick need a tiebreaker to knock out the Tomas brothers 6-3, 5-7, 1-0. The same went for Deshler’s Calvin Whitson and Chris Bailey who beat Duncan and Velez 3-6, 6-2, 1-0. Rounding things out were Vargas and Barrientos, who lost to Wilson’s Lucas Rich and Kolt Carter 7-5, 7-6.