FAYETTEVILLE -- History is in the midst of repeating itself at the 7A-West Conference boys tennis tournament.
Five-time defending champion Bentonville, Fayetteville and Rogers High are in a three-way tie in the team race with six points heading into today's deciding matches.
7A-West Conference Tennis Tournament
Boys
Singles
First Round
No. 1 seed Michael Zheng, Rogers High, def. No. 16 Alec Ulmschneider, Fort Smith Northside, 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 seed Will McCombs, Fayetteville, def. No. 15 Quinn Grafton, Springdale Har-Ber, 6-1, 6-0
No. 3 Striker Chikkala, Bentonville, def. No. 14 Robby Kiss, Fort Smith Northside, 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 Trevor Mallioux, Fayetteville, def. No. 13 Harry Cole, Rogers Heritage, 6-0, 6-0
No. 5 Jake Keefauver, Bentonville, def. No. 12 Spencer George, Springdale, 6-0, 6-0
No. 6 Jack Vaughan, Rogers High, def. No. 11 Matthew Appleyard, Fort Smith Southside, 6-2, 6-1
No. 7 Tony Kopek, Springdale High, def. No. 10 Nick Wiench, Rogers Heritage, 6-1, 6-2
No. 8 John Magness, Fort Smith Southside, def. No. 9 Dylan Trichell, Springdale Har-Ber, 2-6, 6-4 (7-6)
Doubles
No. 1 Hargrove/Neil, Bentonville, def. No. 16 Marks/Lopez, Springdale High, 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 Corbell/Kern, Fayetteville, def. No. 15 Salgado/Schroeder, Springdale High, 6-0, 6-0
No. 3 Benford/Berry, Springdale Har-Ber, def. No. 14 Zondlak/Glynn, Rogers Heritage, 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 Breach/Mathews, Rogers High, def. No. 13 Ryan/McKown, Springdale Har-Ber, 6-1, 6-0
No. 5 Moser/Hartle, Fort Smith Northside, def. No. 12 Zondlak/Kihn, Rogers Heritage, 6-2, 6-2
No. 11 Swieter/Johnson, Rogers High, def., No. 6 Leak/Keith, Bentonville, 6-3, 2-6 (6-4)
No. 10 Rajsombath/Taylor, Fort Smith Northside, def., No. 7 Clark/Hopkins, Fort Smith Southside, 6-3, 6-1
No. 8 Hays/Gantz, Fayetteville, def. Siebenmorgen/Ledbetter, Fort Smith Southside, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3
Second Round
Singles
Zheng, Rogers High, def. Magness, Fort Smith Southside, 6-1, 6-0
Keefauver, Bentonville, def. Mallioux, Fayetteville, 6-0, 6-3
Chikkala, Bentonville, def., Vaugh, Rogers High, 6-0, 6-3
McCombs, Fayetteville, def. Kopek, Springdale High, 6-1, 6-1
Doubles
Hargrave/Neil, Bentonville, def. Hays/Gantz, Fayetteville, 7-5, 6-1
Breach/Mathews, Rogers High, def. Moser/Hartle, Fort Smith Northside, 6-4, 7-5
Benford/Berry, Springdale Har-Ber, def. Swieter/Johnson, Rogers High, 6-1, 6-3
Corbell/Kern, Fayetteville, def. Rajsombath/Taylor, Fort Smith Northside, 6-0, 6-2
"If you stop and look at it over the years, Fayetteville, Rogers and Bentonville have been fighting each other for a decade now," Bentonville coach Nick Nersesian said. "It's always those three. It doesn't matter if it's boys or girls. It's just balanced. You have such a good balance of players, staffs and energy. And these kids like it. This is what it's all about."
Bentonville has a conference-best total of three singles players and doubles groups in the semifinals. Rogers and Fayetteville both have two.
Rogers' Michael Zheng, the top-seeded singles player, cruised to the semifinals, while the Mounties' fourth-seeded doubles tandem of Adam Breach and Moss Mathews also advanced to the semis.
Zheng was impressive in advancing to the semifinals. He beat Fort Smith Southside's Alec Ulmschneider 6-0, 6-0 and then topped Southside's John Magness 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
"We just need to make sure we take care of business in our singles and our No. 1 doubles team," Rogers coach Mike Harper said. "Bentonville has more people in the semifinals right now. We'll have to have some help, I think. ... If Michael wins, that gives us a fighting chance. But that's not to put pressure on him. He just needs to be who he is. He's been the best player in the conference all year long. He just needs to continue hitting the ball the way he is now."
Rogers got an unexpected boost in doubles play when the 11th-seeded tandem of Stone Swieter and James Johnson knocked off a sixth-seeded Bentonville team in the first round to earn an extra point for the Mounties before losing in the quarterfinals.
"They played the best match of their career today," Harper said. "They peaked at the conference tournament, which is what you shoot for."
Bentonville's top-seeded doubles team of Ryan Hargrove and Jack Neal won their first-round match 6-0, 6-1 and then beat a Fayetteville team 7-5, 6-1 to advance to the semis. The Tigers' Sriker Chikkala and Jake Keefauver, seeded third and fifth, respectively, also advanced to the semis in singles action.
Fayetteville has singles No. 2 seed Will McCombs and the second-seeded doubles duo of junior Hans Corbell and senior Cannon Kern in the semifinals.
"You're going to have some great matches (today)," Nersesian said. "It depends on which way the ball bounces sometimes."
Sports on 10/09/2015