Eagles tennis players fill regional honor-team rosters

Cruising to a 20-0 record this season, Boulder City High School’s boys tennis team dominated postseason accolades, placing their entire starting core on either the first or second All-Southern Region team.

“Having our entire lineup honored is a testament to the hard work the boys have put into their games,” head coach Rachelle Huxford said. “Quite a few of our players play year-round in order to be competitive. I am proud of their hard work, sacrifice and dedication.”

Earning first-team honors, the Eagles placed all three singles competitors — senior Andre Pappas and sophomores Connor Mikkelson and Breton Erlanger — and their top doubles tandem of sophomores Boen Huxford and Preston Jorgensen.

Mikkelson finished the 3A individual state tournament in third place, followed by Pappas in fourth. Failing to place, Erlanger also garnered a state tournament berth.

“Having three of the top singles players in the state to practice with on a day-to-day basis definitely helped us all get better,” Pappas said. “Facing that level of competition daily, we all got to practice for what we would be up against in the state tournament.”

Earning a state tournament berth as well, Huxford and Jorgensen lost to eventual state champion runner-up Justin Finseth and Ben Goodman of The Meadows in the semifinals.

Senior Tanner Montgomery, junior Karson Bailey, senior Clayton Pendleton and sophomore Ty Pendleton earned second-team honors, recognizing all three Eagles’ doubles tandems who helped the team on its way to the 3A state championship.

“We were able to rely on all three of our doubles teams throughout the year,” Rachelle Huxford said. “We always felt confident that points weren’t being left behind. Everyone put in the work to get better in the offseason and it proved with their great play throughout the season.”

Lady Eagles

Providing great play for the Lady Eagles this season, which finished as 3A state champion runners-up, were all three singles competitors, sophomores Olivia Mikkelson, Tegan Pappas and Olivia Goodfellow, who were named first-team All-Southern Region, along with junior hybrid Natalie Bowman, who split time between singles and doubles this season.

Highlighting the girls’ individual performance, Mikkelson established herself as the top singles competitor in the 3A after winning the individual state title.

Earning second-team region honors were sophomore doubles competitors Olivia Leavitt and Katelyn Fox.

Contact Robert Vendettoli at BCRsports@gmail.com.