By Billy Woods
WM School District
It
was an overall great day for the Blue Devil boys. The doubles team of
Kaiden Holt and Wallace Crain won third place to give West Memphis
enough points to be declared state runners-up.
"This is very
satisfying because I'm not sure the West Memphis boys have ever finished
runners-up in the state tournament before," said Blue Devil coach Kevin
Holt. "Our guys played great tennis for two days."
Bennage
lost to Los last year in the match for third place in the state
tournament. This time, Bennage said, he wasn't going to let it happen
again.
"I just had to keep calm because (Los) starts off
strong," said Bennage. "He got off to an early 2-0 lead on me in the
first set. I had to stay focused and start moving him around a little
bit. I kept moving him from corner to corner and that allowed me to play
a lot more aggressive."
Turns out, Bennage wasn't even tested
through the entire bracket. As the 6A-East Conference champion he was
given a first-round bye. He then easily dispatched Searcy's Davis
Threlkeld 6-0 and 6-2 before defeating David Woodring of Greenwood 6-3
and 6-4 in the semifinals.
As Bennage alluded to, his game
went to another level from last season. He noted the tutelage of both
his long-time personal coach Bob Spillman from the University Club in
Memphis and Holt, who has put in long hours with the entire team in
anticipation of his boys getting a shot at winning the team state title.
Another factor was Bennage's growth spurt, from 5-foot-6 a year ago to 5-10 this year.
"I
was actually pretty confident coming into this year," said Bennage.
"Both my coaches have done wonders for my game, so I gotta give it up to
them. My shots have been more accurate and more powerful this year
because I've grown a few inches."
Now Bennage advances to
today's Overall state tournament. The top two finishers in each
classification advance to the Overall. As of press time, Bennage's
seeding was not yet known.
"No matter how I do (in the Overall), I'm just honored to be there," Bennage added.
Kaiden
Holt and Crain put up a strong run for the doubles title. They
outlasted Casey Hammons and Tanner Leonard of Searcy in the
quarterfinals 4-6, 6-4 and 6-3. In the semifinals, the West Memphians
lost to Evan Hurt and Jonathan Barber of Jonesboro 3-6, 6-3 and 6-4.
In the consolation bracket, Holt and Crain defeated Dillon Rea and Matthew Kelly of Searcy 8-4.
"I'm
very proud of Kaiden and Wallace," said Coach Holt. "They both played
great the week before at the conference tournament. The good thing about
is these guys have gotten so much better every year. That speaks
volumes about their progress."
