Eagles win regional title

Boulder City High School’s boys tennis team won the regional championship for the second consecutive year and is heading to the 3A state tournament.

“We accomplished our goal to remain regional champions,” junior Preston Jorgensen said. “Now we are anxiously waiting to defend our state title up north and prove we are the best team in the state.”

Entering the Southern Regional tournament as the defending 3A state champions, the Eagles cruised through their competition, defeating rivals Virgin Valley 17-1 on Oct. 3 and The Meadows 13-5 on Friday, Oct. 5.

“I’m not gonna lie; I came into the tournament a little nervous, but these boys are playing at their best right now,” head coach Rachelle Huxford said. “They really stepped up their game.”

Routing the Bulldogs in the opening round, junior Breton Erlanger finished 3-0 in singles play, while juniors Connor Mikkelson and Braden Soileau each finished 2-0.

In doubles play juniors Preston Jorgensen and Boen Huxford led the way, finishing 3-0, while the duos of senior Karson Bailey and junior Ty Pendleton and senior Leaf Kaboli and junior Philipp Zengl finished 2-0.

Carrying their momentum into the championship showdown, the Eagles routed the Mustangs behind 3-0 doubles efforts from Jorgensen and Huxford and Bailey and Pendleton.

In singles play, Mikkelson finished 2-0, while Erlanger and Soileau finished 2-1.

“That Meadows match was a big confidence booster for the boys,” Rachelle Huxford said. “Beating them now four times in a row dating back to last year I feel gives this group of a sense of pride. We lost some keys guys from last year and our new guys really stepped up. This team is tough to beat when everyone is playing at their best and believing in themselves.”

Girls tennis

Unable to duplicate the same success against The Meadows as the boys, the Lady Eagles will still make the trip to the state tournament despite an 11-7 defeat.

“We had a really good run against Meadows,” Lady Eagles head coach Jami Pappas said. “We had a couple of tiebreakers which could have gone either way and some 5-7 close matches. I feel confident in the way the girls are playing. We are confident that we will be ready to face the north next week and are hoping that everything we are mastering in practice will show itself in these next important matches.”

Junior Olivia Mikkelson finished 3-0 in singles play, while the junior doubles tandem of Tegan Pappas and Eugenia Kryshchuk finished 2-1.

Senior Olivia Goodfellow and freshman Reggi Gibbs finished 1-2 in singles.

Traveling to Reno for the 3A state tournament, both teams will play their opening-round match Oct. 18. Opponents for the Eagles have yet to be determined.

Individual tournament

Individual regional championship play for singles and doubles began Monday at Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas. The tournament concludes at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, at Boulder City High School.

Several BCHS players made it to the round of 16 Wednesday.

Still alive for the boys are all three singles players and all three double teams.

No. 2 seed junior Connor Mikkelson started his bid for the title Wednesday, Oct. 10, against Virgin Valley’s Ethan Leavitt, while No. 6 seed Erlanger faced off against No. 11 seed Soileau in a team friendly match.

In the round of 32, Erlanger defeated Chaparral’s Melchor Salto 6-0, 6-0, while Soileau defeated Chaparral’s Jake Scott 6-2, 6-1.

All three doubles teams had first-round byes and began play Wednesday, Oct. 10. No. 1 seed Jorgensen and Boen Huxford played Chaparral’s Jonathon Rodriguez and Shaun Ladroma.

No. 3 seed Bailey and Pendleton faced Adelson School duo of Cameron Arato and Liel Simhayoff, while No. 5 seed Kaboli and Zengl played Virgin Valley’s Chad Abbott and Gage Hughes.

For the Lady Eagles, No. 2 seed junior Olivia Mikkelson started singles play Wednesday, Oct. 10, after a first-round bye against Adelson School’s Sarah Blank.

No. 7 seed Gibbs played Sunrise Mountain’s Daphne Rios, after defeating Del Sol’s Aide Beltran-Garcia 6-0, 6-0 in round one.

No. 9 seed Goodfellow was eliminated after round one, falling to Moapa Valley’s Amber Ables 7-5, 6-1.

In doubles play No. 1 seed Tegan Pappas and Kryshchuk made it to the quarterfinals after defeating Sunrise Mountain’s Mel Corres and Lessley Lopez 6-0, 6-0 on Tuesday in the round of 16.

No. 5 seed senior Natalie Bowman and junior Katelyn Fox are awaiting their quarterfinals opponent after defeating Virgin Valley’s Daisy Sanchez and McKenzie Smith 6-1, 6-0 on Tuesday.

No. 8 seed senior Olivia Leavitt and junior Sophia Morris are in the round of 16 and will play The Meadows duo of Grace Nemec and Peyton Barsel. The winner will play Pappas and Kryshchuk in the quarterfinals today, Oct. 11.

Cruising through round one, Leavitt and Morris defeated Chaparral’s Jennifer Estrada and Jackie Estrada 6-0, 6-0.

Results from Wednesday’s game came in too late for this issue. They will be posted on our website as they become available and final results will appear in next week’s issue.

Contact Robert Vendettoli at BCRsports@gmail.com.