A year after coming up short in the second round, Anthony Tran made amends by taking down the Class 3A champion.
The Pulaski Academy senior withstood charges from Episcopal Collegiate's Keeton Dassinger throughout to pick up a 6-3, 6-2 victory on the first day of the state Overall tennis tournament on an overcast Monday at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
"I felt pretty good out there," said a sweat-drenched Tran, who fell to Shiloh Christian's Bradley Neil in last week's Class 4A singles final at the same facility. "When it started drizzling a little, it started getting to my head a little bit, especially during that one changeover. But I just shook it off and kept on going."
Tran didn't stop until he'd secured a spot in the semifinals. He'll face Class 6A champion Collin Matthews at 9 a.m. today. The Rogers sophomore defeated Graham Hardin of Haas Hall Bentonville 6-3, 6-2 in one of four second-round singles matches.
Neil, who outlasted Hot Springs Lakeside's Ben Hollis, will take on Little Rock Central's Jake Maxson in the other semifinal.
In doubles play, Hayden and Carter Swope of Springdale Har-Ber moved one step closer to adding to their title collection after beating Harding Academy's Ryan McGaha and Andrew Ross 6-0, 6-0. The Swope brothers, who grabbed the Class 6A title a week ago after Bentonville's Vikram Balaskaran and Nikky Simpson withdrew because of an illness, will play Class 5A champions Ethan Richardson and Carson Fowler of Jonesboro in the semifinal round. Balaskaran and Simpson will battle Pulaski Academy's Noah Becker and Jack Lewis.
"This feels really good because we've been working really hard to get here," said Hayden Swope, a senior. "I know my brother really well and he knows me really well ... we go off of each other. We help each other out out there.
"But I think we were focused and dialed in [Monday] to where we were not really worried about whatever was going to happen with the weather. Whatever happens, happens. We were just going to do our job no matter what."
The Swope brothers certainly handled their business against Ross and McGaha, using an array of shots to thwart everything thrown their way. The duo also kept their counterparts on their heels by winning the majority of their first-serve points, which helped them stay undefeated on the year.
"I'm lucky to have a brother as good as him and as encouraging as him to play with," Carter Swope, a freshman, said of his brother. "It feels good to get this first win."
Tran, too, was happy to get his initial victory under his belt. He noted that he'd played Dassinger in the past but came out on the wrong end of things in their last meeting.
He turned things around in their latest clash.
"We went to a third set the last time, and he got the better of me," he said. "I started cramping some in that one, but I think I've improved a lot since then. I was just trying to make more balls than he did and go for my shots whenever I could."
CORRECTION: Collin Matthews of Rogers defeated Graham Hardin of Haas Hall Bentonville 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the boys Overall tennis tournament on Monday. The score was incorrect in an earlier version of this article.