The Siloam Springs boys tennis team held its own Monday with defending 4A state champion Shiloh Christian at the John Brown University Tennis Complex.
The Panthers and Saints split 12 varsity matches with each winning three doubles and three singles contests. It was Siloam Springs' second match of the season.
The Panthers' No. 1 and No. 2 singles players -- Orest Los and Igor Jacociuna -- both lost to last year's 4A state runner-up Smith Ney.
In the match with Jacociuna, an exchange student who was just cleared to play for Siloam Springs, Ney trailed 5-3 before too many unforced errors allowed Ney to come back and win 7-5. Ney defeated Los 6-2.
"Keep in mind, Smith Ney is one of the best players in the state of Arkansas and was ranked nationally earlier in his career," said Siloam Springs head coach Scott Wright.
Jacociuna came back and defeated Elliott Doxsee 6-2 in singles, but Siloam Springs' Kip Dooley was defeated by Skylar Hudson 6-2.
Noah Slater of Siloam Springs defeated Jacques Von Bechmann 7-5, while Heyden Smith beat Kyle Tune 6-3 for another Panthers win.
"Our team keeps improving, which is our focus," Wright said. "Obviously the additions of Igor and Orest have helped us to have depth on our boys team, but we should not forget the fact that every player on our team has improved since last year. We are excited for the upcoming matches and keep working to get better every day. The entire team has simply become more competitive."
In doubles, Ney and Hudson defeated Dooley and Slater 6-1 at No. 1 singles.
Los and Smith defeated Von Bechmann and Elliott Doxsee 7-5 at No. 2 singles.
Shiloh Christian's Ethan Olson and Doxsee defeated Siloam Springs' team of Michael Guffey and Reagan McCarver 6-3.
The Panthers' team of Chad Hall and Zack Becan defeated Shiloh Christian's team of Tucker Duddleston and William Zurborg 6-1.
Zurborg and Duddleston defeated Siloam Springs' team of Zayn Snow and Avery Lang 6-0.
Guffey and Oliver Reid gave Siloam Springs a 6-3 win over Duddleston and Olson.
Girls
Siloam Springs only played one varsity match in girls with Olivia Myers falling 6-2 to Shiloh Christian's Hannah Cobb.
In junior varsity singles, Bailey McKenzie of Shiloh Christian defeated Kacie Soderquist 4-1.
Averie Headrick of Siloam Springs defeated McKenzie 4-3 in another junior varsity singles match.
In junior varsity doubles, Valerie Lee and Brooke Hutto of Siloam Springs defeated Shiloh Christian's team of Alyssa Antuna and Alberta Towns 6-0.
Up next
The Panthers and Lady Panthers are scheduled to play at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Greenwood.
Sports on 08/26/2015