RUSSELLVILLE -- The Class 6A boys tennis tournament will have plenty of representation from Siloam Springs.
The Panthers had both of their singles players and one of their two doubles teams qualify for the state tournament on Monday and Tuesday at the 6A-East Conference Tournament held at Arkansas Tech.
Siloam Springs' top singles players, Igor Jacociunas and Orest Los, each advanced to the conference semifinals on Tuesday, and Jacociunas went on to play Jonesboro's Connor Mackey in the championship. Results of the championship match were not available at presstime.
Los finished third in singles after defeating Jonesboro's Eli Leonard in the-third place game.
Earlier on Tuesday, Jacociunas defeated Leonard 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the first semifinal, while Los was defeated by Mackey 6-1, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
Jacociunas and Los each won both of their matches on Monday to qualify for the 6A boys state tournament, which will be played at Russellville High School on Oct. 19-20.
Jacociunas defeated Greenwood's Johnny Tammarath in the opening round in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, and he went on to defeat Jon Hester of Marion 6-0, 6-0.
Los, meanwhile defeated Peyton Golden of Russellville 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round and then defeated Luke Wolfe of Searcy 6-1, 6-2 in the second round to qualify.
In doubles, the Siloam Springs team of Kip Dooley and Noah Slater qualified for the state tournament on Tuesday by avenging a loss that kept them out of the 2014 state tournament.
Dooley and Slater defeated the team of Villemez and Ridout from Searcy 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 in a state qualifying match. Villemez and Ridout was the same team that defeated Dooley and Slater last season.
With their state berth secured, Dooley and Slater played in the fifth place game later on Tuesday and defeated the team of Thessing and Johnson from Russellville 8-2.
On Monday, Dooley and Slater defeated the Mountain Home team of McCoach and Blackmon 6-0, 6-2 in the opening round, but they lost to the Greenwood team of Walker and Woodring in the second round 6-2, 6-4.
Walker and Woodring also defeated the Siloam Springs team of Heyden Smith and Chad Hall in the opening round 6-1, 6-2.
Lady Panthers
On the girls side, Siloam Springs had all of its competition defeated in the first round with no singles or doubles players advancing to the state tournament.
In girls singles, Olivia Myers was defeated 6-3, 6-2 by Carmen Baker of Searcy, while Yasmine Alfaro was defeated 6-0, 6-4 by Morgan Weaver of Marion.
In girls doubles, the team of Valerie Lee and Kacey Soderquist of Siloam Springs was defeated by Jonesboro's team of Gillespie and Hafner 6-0, 6-0. The Siloam Springs team of Brooke Hutto and Averie Headrick lost to Jonesboro's team of Hurt and McDaniel 6-1, 6-1.
Sports on 10/07/2015