Butler, Hogancamp earn bids to State tennis tourney
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NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Bryant freshman Whitney Butler and junior Callie Hogancamp have qualified as singles for the Class 7A State Tournament with their play at the 7A-Central Conference tournament held today at Burns Park.
Senior Kyle Nossaman narrowly missed qualifying in boys singles as did the girls doubles team of Kristen Dudley and Autumn Rouse.
The State tournament will also be at Burns Park starting Monday, Oct. 18.
As it turned out, Butler and Hogancamp wound up playing each other for seeding. Butler prevailed 6-0, 6-1 to earn the No. 5 seed at State. Hogancamp will be seeded No. 6.
To qualify, Butler opened on Monday with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Cori Fair. In the second round, she lost to Breanna Watkins of Conway, 3-6, 4-6. Today, she came back in the qualifying match to defeat Mount St. Mary’s Ellie Abad, 6-0, 6-1.
Hogancamp received a first-round bye but then battled and lost to Madison Shallhorn of Little Rock Central, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6. On Tuesday, she came back to win the qualifying match against Emma Baird of Cabot, 6-2, 5-7, 6-0.
For Nossaman, it came down to a match with Conway’s Sam Roberts. After falling 0-6 in the first game, the Bryant senior came back to win a tiebreaker 7-6 to force the third and decisive game. Roberts prevailed 6-4 with the decisive point coming on a shot that tipped the cord and fell over.
Nossaman had opened the tournament by defeating Mitchell Turk of Cabot, 6-3, 6-2.
“Kyle gave a heck of an effort,” noted Bryant coach Steve Wilson.
For Dudley and Rouse, it came down to a battle with the Mount St. Mary duo of Kate Westerfield and Christina Gillam. Dudley and Rouse started strong, winning the first game 6-2. They lost the second game 1-6 to set up the tiebreaker, which went to its own tiebreaker before the Mount St. Mary pair escaped 7-5.
“That third set went down to the wire,” acknowledged Wilson. “They just missed out on a chance to go to State. They played their hearts out.”
Dudley and Rouse had advanced by beating Tyler Bumgartner and Elizabeth Breedlow of North Little Rock, 6-4, 6-1, in the opening round. They lost to the Conway duo of Desanti Brewster and Morgan Cummings of Conway, 3-6, 1-6 to set up the qualifying match.
In the other girls doubles match, Lauren Boyer and Sarah Lequieu were defeated by Leah Riner and Amy Bell of Conway, 0-6, 0-6.
Cody Higgins played in the boys singles tournament as well but fell to Little Rock Central’s Dev Nair, 0-6, 1-6.
In boys doubles, Cade Howard and Murphy Maynard lost to Jacob Anderson and Jacob Porter of North Little Rock, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6. Bryant’s Malik Flint and Justin Travis fell to Will Otter and Jordan Sumler of Cabot, 0-6, 4-6.
