3A State Tennis: Desert Hills, Park City in great shape after first day

Desert Hills' Mo Behymer, Region 9 Girls Tennis Tournament, St. George, Utah, Oct. 1, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

SALT LAKE CITY – As expected, the Park City and Desert Hills girls tennis teams excelled on the first day of the 3A State Tennis Tournament in Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.

The Lady Miners hold a slim 10-9 team edge after the first two rounds over the Lady Thunder. Park City has semifinalists in all five categories, led by 1st singles player Livi Rockwood. She defeated Carbon’s Gabby Wall and DH’s Erica Evans in straight sets.

Allie Beck serves at the state tournament, Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 6, 2016 | Photo courtesy Jerry Beck
Allie Beck at the state tournament, Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 6, 2016 | Photo courtesy Jerry Beck

The Lady Thunder were able to get semifinalists in four of the five categories, with singles players Morgan Behymer (2nd) and Abbie Carmack (3rd) both winning in straight sets. The doubles teams of Alani Plumb and Allie Beck (1st) and Lyndsi Graff and Jocelyn Kennedy (2nd) also won in straight sets.

“We are gelling well as a team,” DH coach Dave Smith said. “We’ve been working on higher strategic and stroke techniques over the past few weeks and it seems everything is starting to click now. Perfect timing.”

Pine View 1st singles star Hattie Erekson only lost two games in two matches Thursday and will face Naya Tillit of Ridgeline in the semifinals. Rockwood will face Juab senior Olivia Durbin in the other 1st singles semifinal.

Behymer will battle Livi Rockwood’s sister, Gabby, in one of the 2nd singles semifinals in a match that could go a long way in deciding the eventual team champion between Desert Hills and Park City. Hurricane’s Candace Gubler is also in the 2nd singles semifinals after she won a pair of straight set matches Thursday. She’ll face Kristen Johnson of Ridgeline.

Carmack faces Annie Spach of Logan in one 3rd singles semifinal.

Rigeline, from Cache County, has seven team points and an outside chance at a state team title. Pine View, Logan and Richfield are tied for fourth with four points each.

The semifinals are Friday starting at 9 a.m.

For the full first-day results, click here.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.