CHS, AHS ready for 4-5A tennis tournament

By TED DUNNAM
Assistant Sports Editor

Cooper will be hard-pressed to duplicate what it did a year ago, but the Cougars should nevertheless have a major impact when the District 4-5A tennis tournament begins its two-day run today at Odessa College.

The Cougars won all four divisions - girls and boys singles and doubles - last year and eventually sent a girls doubles team, a girls singles player and a boys singles player to state.

This year, the road to Lubbock for the Region I-5A tournament should be considerably rockier. Cooper, powered by Kathryn Scott and Heather Gibson, will be the heavy favorite to win the girls doubles title, and Charlie Roberson of San Angelo Central should claim the boys singles crown.
After that, however, the rest of the regional spots should be up for grabs.

Abilene High takes a great deal of momentum into the tournament after winning the Abilene Invitational a week ago. Eagles Dusty Oglesby and Adam Knight are the top seeds in boys doubles which should also be the most competitive of the four divisions.

In girls singles, Abilene High's Meiling Parks should contend for a regional berth after winning the Abilene Invitational singles title last week over top seed Melissa Hodges of Odessa Permian.

"I'm pretty confident about Kathryn and Heather, but I've learned that nothing is ever a sure thing," Cooper head coach Leanne Scott said. "It doesn't matter what you're seeded - you have to be ready to play. It's as simple as that."

Matches begin at 8:30 a.m. at Odessa College and play resumes with the finals and third-place matches set for 9 a.m. Saturday. Any playback matches would follow.

"I think our two boys doubles teams (Chuck Haddox-Ryan Hughes and Chris Caceres-David Galloway) are as good as anybody else's," Scott said. "Both have the ability to win all of their matches. But there are going to be six good boys doubles teams."

Either Abilene High or Cooper should figure in each of the four finals.

Scott and Gibson should make the girls doubles final, and they could be opposed by either the Abilene High team of Jill Levrets and Kate Denny or the Lady Cougar team of Andi Wildner and Lacy Johnson.

In girls singles, Parks is a strong possiblity to reach the finals while in boys singles Cooper's Matt Parkhill could contend after reaching the championship match of the Abilene Invitational.

Whichever team wins the boys doubles draw will have done a considerable amount of work. The Abilene High team of Joe Don Ridgell and Derran Reese along with teams from Midland High and San Angelo Central add to the strength of that field.