Scott Wright will tell you that you never know what can happen when it comes to high school sports.
Wright saw that firsthand last fall with the Siloam Springs boys tennis team.
Siloam Springs was the recipient of two early-season additions to the team that helped vault the Panthers to a state runner-up finish in Class 6A.
Exchange student Igor Jacociunas of Brazil won the individual 6A state championship 6-3, 6-3 over Jonesboro's Connor Mackey, but the Hurricane topped the Panthers for the state title.
The Panthers won't have Jacociunas, who returned to Brazil during the spring semester. But as fall practice started on Tuesday morning at the John Brown University Tennis Courts, Wright said there's no telling what could happen next.
"There's always those sleepers," Wright said. "You never know who that's going to be. You never know when a move-in is going to come in obviously. They show up the first day of school and be a foreign exchange student that's played tennis all their life. We had two of them last year, a foreign exchange and a transfer."
The transfer was junior Orest Los, who came to the team late in 2014 after his family moved from the Ukraine. Los advanced to the quarterfinals of the state tournament last season and is expected to be the Panthers' top player at No. 1 singles.
No. 1 doubles team Kip Dooley and Noah Slater also return after advancing to the state semifinals in doubles.
"Obviously Kip and Noah are our No. 1 doubles right now, but we'll see," Wright said. "You never know, maybe Kip and Noah will want to play singles this year."
Wright said more evaluation of who plays where will begin once matches get underway.
"We're not sure yet," Wright said. "They're going to have to battle it out. We're probably going to start that in about a week. But the thing is, that can be ongoing. Playoffs don't start until October, so we won't make a decision right away on how we're going to do that."
Wright said Oliver Reid, Zach Becan and Chad Hall are all good returning players along with Michael Guffey and Reagan McCarver.
"Those are all kids who will have a shot," Wright said. "Who knows, maybe there's a sleeper in there that we're not even talking about right now."
On the girls side, senior Olivia Myers is expected to be the Lady Panthers' top player at No. 1 singles.
"She's been through the wars," Wright said. "Olivia's been here for a while."
Senior Yazmine Alfaro could play at the No. 2 singles spot, and doubles teams of junior Averie Headrick and Brooke Hutto and Valerie Lee and Kacey Soderquist all got lots of playing time last season.
NOTES: Wright said a match with Haas Hall is likely to be added to the final schedule, which will be released later this week. "We're going to get some good competition early this year," he said. He also said the final tennis roster won't be available until later because he might have a few more additions to the team. ... The Panthers will no longer be in the same conference with defending state champion Jonesboro. The conference will consist of 6A-West teams, Benton, Greenwood, Lake Hamilton, Texarkana, Russellville, El Dorado, Sheridan and Siloam Springs. "We feel like we can compete with anybody in 6A," Wright said.
Sports on 07/27/2016