Cavaliers dominate in district

May 11, 2008 12:13 am

— From staff reports
sports@joplinglobe.com
Thomas Jefferson swept all four semifinal matches Saturday morning on its courts to complete its domination of the Class 1 District 5 prep boys tennis tournament.
The Cavaliers accumulated 401/2 points, and Webb City placed second with 20. Springfield Catholic and Mount Vernon were next with 16 and 14 points, respectively, to complete the field for this week’s team district competition.
First-round team matches on Tuesday pair Mount Vernon at Thomas Jefferson and Springfield Catholic at Webb City. Matches will start at 4 p.m. at Thomas Jefferson and 4:30 at Webb City.
Completing the team scores: Monett 11, Carthage 9, Bolivar 81/2, Reeds Spring 7, Republic 5, Greenwood 41/2, New Covenant 4 and Nevada 21/2.
In the singles semis, the Cavaliers’ top-seeded Spenser Newman blanked fifth-seeded Brett Jones of Mount Vernon 6-0, 6-0, and David Evans, the sixth seed, rallied to upset No. 2 Ryan Miller of Webb City 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Thomas Jefferson entries took both doubles semis in straight sets. Top-seeded Will Humphreys-Joe Newman defeated No. 4 Ethan Spiva-Will Hawes of Springfield Catholic 6-0, 6-1, and No. 3 Coleman Bandy-Andrew Prigmore knocked off second-seeded Sean Medlin-Austin Cloud of Monett 6-3, 6-2.
The two championship matches lasted just one game apiece.
Evans won the first game against Spenser Newman, just the third game that Newman lost in the district, before retiring with an ankle injury.
“Evans probably was the biggest surprise of the tournament,” Cavaliers coach Diego Camacho said. “The semifinal match was his most impressive match. He showed a lot of heart. It looked like the ankle warmed up a little bit and was feeling better after the first set.”
“It was a heck of a battle,” Webb City coach Ryan Odaffer said. “It went back and forth. Both of them were hurting and tired.”
The doubles final ended after the first game when Prigmore retired with an ankle injury.
“The entire team was ready to play,” Camacho said. “They performed well this weekend.”
Medlin-Cloud finished third in the doubles bracket with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Spiva-Hawes. The singles third-place match saw Jones win by default over Miller.