Ella Sorrels posted a sixth place state finish and Lucas Carpenter was just shy of placing as each competed a number two singles to lead the Durant High tennis teams in the Class 5A State Tournament in Oklahoma City.
Sorrels bounced back from an opening round defeat to the tournament top seed to notch three consecutive victories on the way to the fifth place match.
She toppled Duncan’s Ava Miller, 6-2, 6-1, and then was up 2-1 in the following round when Emma Gregg of Altus retired. The Lady Lions standout followed with a tight 7-6, 2-6, 10-5 triumph against Georgia Mosher from Carl Albert before falling in her final match to Lily Koontz of Holland Hall.
On the boys’ side, Carpenter notched a 6-4, 6-0 victory against McAlester’s Matt Lungstrum in round one but dropped a narrow second round verdict 6-3, 6-3 against one of the top seeds from McGuinness. He stayed alive with a 6-1, 6-4 victory versus Liam Dudit from Carl Albert before falling just shy of the placing matches.
The Lady Lions added to their eighth place team finish with each of their doubles groups notching one victory in consolation bracket play.
McKenzie Petty and Anslee Morse posted the 6-3, 6-1 decision against Caldwell and Ray of Oklahoma Bible at number one while the number two duo of Hannah Parker and Lauren Yandell scored a 7-6, 6-1 win facing Pennington and Swing from McAlester.
At number one singles for the girls, Hadley Perrin qualified for the state tournament but did not win a match while the boys’ doubles unit of Kaleb Powell and Gaius Sanchez also reached the state tournament but came up short in a pair of decisions.
Durant came up just a bit shy of state qualifying at number one singles and two doubles in regionals as James Wallis claimed fifth in singles and the tandem of Luis Garcia and Blake Preston was fifth in doubles.
