MMA, Mexico tennis enter postseason play

By: Dave Faries, Editor
Posted 5/12/21

The Colonels dominated individual district play on Friday night at the Fairgrounds Park courts. Meanwhile Mexico was decked with All-District honors for capturing top four finishes.

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MMA, Mexico tennis enter postseason play

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The Colonels dominated individual district play on Friday night at the Fairgrounds Park courts. Meanwhile Mexico was decked with All-District honors for capturing top four finishes.


Missouri Military Academy’s Isaac Way defeated teammate Marco Tavarez 6-0, 6-1 in the finals to earn the district champion crown. In doubles, MMA’s pairing of Oscar Lopez and Simon Way proved successful, as the team captured the district title.


Mexico’s Brendan McKeown put on a solid performance. Down 5-2 in the first set against Father Tolton’s Christopher Cameron, he rallied for a 7-5 comeback win. After dropping the second set, he bounced back again to take the match.


“I was making a lot of mistakes,” McKeown said. “I think when I made a strong start in the third, I took over the game mentally.”


McKeown finished third in district singles. The Bulldogs’ team of Ryan Pemberton and Haden Frazier also claimed bronze in doubles, launched by a big first round victory over MMA’s Samuel Way and Gorka Yarte.


Pemberton said the pair’s height advantage played a role. But they have also butted heads with the Colonels before.


“We knew what their style of play was like,” he pointed out.


Randy Hernandez took fourth in singles. Carter McIntosh and Bryson Stuehmer ended up with a fourth place in doubles.


The Mexico players picked up individual All-District honors.


Isaac Way cruised through his opener then overcame a strong effort by Hernandez in round two. He then had to wait several hours for the other matches to play out before the championship round.


Lopez with Simon Way was a first time pairing for the Colonels. Both admitted to struggling at first.


“It was difficult,” Way observed. “But I knew we could pull it off.”


“We did better in the second match,” Lopez agreed.


The four Colonels advance to sectionals this weekend.


Team district play took place Monday and Wednesday for both Mexico and MMA.

Pemberton, Bulldogs solid in conference tourney


Ryan Pemberton won the number five NCMC singles title, with Brendan McKeown and Bryson Stuehmer taking second in the four and six slots, respectively.


Mexico’s doubles teams swept silver and the Bulldogs finished second as a team at the conference tournament, held at the Fairgrounds Park courts on Wednesday.


Noah Harlan and Dominic McKeown, Andrew Stephens with Matt Huemann, along with Andrew Pemberton and Declan Gleeson all reached second on the doubles podium.


In singles play, Haden Frazier finished third in the number two slot, as did Carter McIntosh in the three position.


Number one player Randy Hernandez took fourth in his category.

Colonels finish regular season unbeaten


MMA dismantled Columbia Independent on Wednesday 9-0. Fittingly, the outcome gave the Colonels a 9-0 record on the year.


The only blip came when Simon Way was injured by a stray ball in the doubles round and had to retire. Marco Tavarez, who had turned in a quick 8-0 set with partner Oscar Lopez, stepped in to replace Way.


The cobbled team of Tavarez and Isaac Way had to learn each other’s roles quickly, but managed to pull away from CI’s Jackson Coyle and Eric Dirksmeyer 8-3.


Samuel Way and Gorka Yarte threw an 8-0 shutout.


In singles, Nathan Dempsey swept his set 6-0, 6-0 in the six slot. Isaac Way and Samuel Way came close to matching the feat, each winning 6-1, 6-0.


Yarte also rolled 6-1, 6-0.


Thrust into the number two role, Tavarez struggled against Dirksmeyer in the first, finally taking it 6-4. In the second, however, he gained control early and eased to a 6-0 win.


Lopez faced a battle against Riley Bach but etched a pair of 6-2 set victories.

 


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