The Republic tennis team stubbed its toe at the Central Ozark Conference tournament Wednesday at Cooper Tennis Complex. Out of nine brackets, Republic claimed first place in three of them. But a couple of unexpected upsets hurt the Tigers, allowing Branson to walk away with the COC title.
Brett Carpenter won the #4 singles bracket. Dylan Mackey and Hunter Creek teamed up for the #1 doubles championship, including a win over a Nixa team that had beaten them earlier this season. Mackey and Creek are just the second Republic doubles team to win the top-flight COC championship.
Austin Massey and Logan Elder won the #3 doubles bracket, as well, beating teams from Neosho, Ozark and Nixa.
In four of the brackets, Republic players lost a match they were favored to win in the semifinals, against opponents they had beaten earlier.
Coach Dan Vales says despite those upsets, Republic was in the hunt until nearly the end of the day.
“To each of the guys credit, they all bounced back to win tough third place match after losing heart breaking semi-final matches,” Vales says. “Even then, despite our rough day, if we had won our #2 doubles semi-finals match over Branson, we would have at least tied for the team championship. But in the end, it just wasn’t our day.”
Republic finished second overall, placing in the top four of every draw.
The Tigers open team districts next Tuesday at home against Nixa, starting at 4:30.
Singles Results
1 singles: Dylan Mackey- 2nd place (Conference runner-up in singles) Won a big semi-finals match over Tate Mahnken of Ozark. In the finals lost a close match to Tanner Powley of Nixa.
2 singles: Hunter Creek- 3rd place. Was upset in semi-finals by Luke Mulder of Ozark. Rebounded to have a nice win over Garrett Robertson of Nixa 8-6.
3 singles: Isaac Jordan- 3rd place. Was upset in semi-finals by Joe Jafari of Branson. In third place match, avenged earlier loss this year to beat Todd Jones 8-6.
4 singles: Brett Carpenter- 1st place- Amassed wins over Neosho, CJ, and Branson to win the COC Championship at #4 singles.
5 singles: Logan was upset in semi-finals by Tanner Barnes of Nixa 8-5. Won third place match over Ozark to finish third.
6 singles: Austin was upset in the semi-finals by Garrett Jarvis of Nixa. Won third place match of Ozark to finish third.
Doubles
1 doubles: Mackey/Creek- COC conference champs in doubles in doubles. Won matches over Webb City, Branson and Neosho and Nixa to clinch championship.
2 doubles: Jordan/Carpenter- won first round over Neosho and lost to Branson and Ozark to finish 4th.
3 doubles: Massey/Elder- Won matches over Neosho, Ozark, and Nixa to win conference #3 doubles championship.
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