The quarterfinals of the 3A Southern Region individual tennis bracket will be well represented by Boulder City High School when competitors from the Eagles and Lady Eagles take the court today at the Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas.
Junior Andre Pappas and freshman Breton Erlanger have made it to round eight in singles competition, while all three boys doubles duos, freshmen Boen Huxford and Preston Jorgensen, juniors Garrett Leavitt and Clayton Pendleton, and Tanner Montgomery and sophomore Karson Bailey, will be joining them.
“We are super excited and hopeful about the quarterfinals,” Eagles head coach Rachelle Huxford said. “The boys earned great seeding in the tournament this year. Our three doubles teams and Andre are all playing teams they have played before, so that has helped a lot in our preparation for today. Breton will be playing an unknown opponent for him from The Meadows, but I really believe they all have a good shot at making it to the semifinals.”
After defeating Desert Pines’ No. 8 seed Kim Halasan 6-0, 6-1, Pappas, the No. 1 seed out of the Sunrise, will take on the No. 4 seed out of the Sunset League, Oscar Murillo from Desert Pines. Joining Pappas on the other side of the bracket for the Eagles, Sunrise No. 2 seed Erlanger will face off against Sunset No. 3 seed Ethan Lee from The Meadows, after defeating Sunset No. 7 seed Justin Kalb from Adelson School 6-0,6-0 in the round of 16.
“Coming into the year, my goal was to get a good seed in individuals in order to have a better chance of making it to the finishing rounds,” Pappas said. “Luckily, I was able to get the No. 1 seed this year and Breton got the No. 2. To get ready for the rounds to come, Breton and I have been practicing with the team after school at our regular practices. I’ve also been hitting with my personal coach to get some good hard hitting in before I meet some better competition.”
Following a successful defeat of the No. 8 Mojave duo Nathaniel Arredondo and Andrik Garcia 6-0, 6-0 in the doubles bracket, the Sunrise No. 1 seed Huxford and Jorgensen will face off against the Sunset No. 4 seeded duo Kevin Giron and Adan Cano from Desert Pines.
Making their way past No. 7 seed Western duo Omar Rivera and Kiernan Armstrong 6-3,-6-2, the No. 2 seed duo Leavitt and Pendleton will take on No. 3 seed duo Peyton Sachs and Ahmed Nadeem from The Meadows.
After surviving an upset bid from the Adelson No. 6 seed duo Brandon Pappas and Ari Tecktiel 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, the No. 3 seed duo Montgomery and Bailey will face the The Meadows No. 2 seed duo Ryan Chang and Brian Capp.
Representing the Lady Eagles in the eighth round are freshman Tegan Pappas, the team’s lone singles competitor remaining, along with the senior duo Kyra Yamamoto and McKenna Frazier in the doubles competition.
Standing for Sunrise as the No. 1 seed, Tegan Pappas will take on Shayna Indyg from The Meadows, who came into the tournament as a play-in qualifier. Soundly defeating Desert Pines No. 8 seed Dori Harper in the round of 16 6-2 6-0, Tegan Pappas said she feels confident about her chances moving forward after revamping her practice routine.
“I try not to overthink my matches because I don’t want to get negative thoughts in my head,” Tegan Pappas said. “Other than the mental part of it, I am playing practice matches against my friends and I am having them give me pointers on what I could do better that would challenge my opponent more. Just doing a lot of extra hitting helps me get ready to go into my matches with lots of confidence.”
In the doubles competition, Yamamoto and Frazier are back for their last individual regionals together as the Sunrise No. 3 seed. After defeating Cheyenne’s No. 6 seed duo Kiara McGilbra and Valeria Lujan 6-0, 6-1, the Lady Eagles’ four-year tandem will face a tougher opponent in the semifinals, squaring off against the Desert Pines No. 2 seed duo Shelly Alvarado and Yazaret Aredondo.
Preparing to get play underway today, the boys singles and doubles matches will be played at 5 p.m., while the girls singles and doubles competition will resume at 6:30 p.m.
Upcoming games
■ Today, regional championships, Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas, 5 p.m.
■ Oct. 20, state team and individual championships, Reno Tennis Center, TBA.
Contact Robert Vendettoli at BCRsports@gmail.com.
