Jon Cole and Caleb Long were a bright spot as Republic tennis finished its busiest week of the season so far. Cole and Long finished second in the Flight 2 doubles bracket at the Waynesville Tournament Friday.
On April 18, Branson remained unbeaten the Central Ozark Conference with a 7-2 wi at Republic. Republic won one of three doubles matches and one of six singles matches. In doubles, Caleb Long and Cooper Choate won their match 8-6. Austin Hardcastle was the only singles winner for Republic, and he did it in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-4). It was one of three matches that went to a tiebreaker. Hardcastle was playing in his first varsity singles match.
“We ended up on the wrong side of it, but that was a really good high school tennis match,” said coach David Smashey. “I thought both teams played very well and very hard, and I think the score pretty fairly reflects where the two teams are — we are certainly good enough to compete with them but they are a little better.
On April 19, Republic edged Glendale 5-4 in Springfield. The Tigers got two doubles wins — one from Gavin Collyott and Chase Elder; the other from Caleb Long and Cooper Choate. Elder and Long each won their singles matches 8-1.
On April 20, Republic stepped back into conference play with an 8-1 win at Carl Junction.
The same day, the JV team won the Lebanon tournament by winning three straight. The Tigers opened the day with a 5-4 win over Lebanon’s JV. They swept Rolla 9-0. And they clinched the tournament title with a 6-2 win over Waynesville. Andrew McCord and Owen Quesenberry teamed to win their three doubles matches, and they each won their three singles matches, as well.
Republic finished the week at 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the COC.
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