A couple of local doubles teams are still in contention for state tennis titles after winning both of their matches on Thursday. A handful of other area players also competed but lost either first- or second-round matches.
The Owensboro Catholic girls’ top duo of Sarah Englert/Ashely Fulkerson, playing as a No. 9 seed, lost only five total games in four sets as they cruised to the third round.
The Daviess County boys’ team of Chris Salamah/Dylan McDuffee also advanced to the second day of competition after a pair of wins, including an upset of a seeded team in the first round.
Both teams will return to action Friday morning, and another pair of wins would earn them spots in Saturday’s semifinals.
Englert/Fulkerson will play at 9:30 a.m. against the No. 5 seed Lafayette team of Michayla Gatsos/Helena Weiss.
Salamah/McDuffee will continue their run for a title at 10:45 a.m. against the No. 5 seed Covington Catholic tandem of Luke McHale/David Schlachter.
The first match on Thursday for Englert/Fulkerson was an easy 6-1, 6-3 victory against Letcher County Central’s Mallory Conrad/Haley White. They picked up another quick win in round two, rolling to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Clay County’s Emma Rader/Isabella Sester.
For Salamah/McDuffee, they used a hot start to blow by No. 9 seed Sam Clark/Wenxiang Sun of Henry Clay with a 6-1, 6-0 victory. They then posted a strong 6-4, 6-2 win over Bowling Green’s Ronit Patel/Tate Sine.
Daviess County’s George Hulse picked up a win for the Panthers in singles competition. Hulse cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Corbin’s Grant Morton, but he then lost 6-1, 6-2 to Parker Clarke — a No. 5 seed from Ashland Blazer — in the second round.
Owensboro’s Dylan Mather lost 6-2, 6-1 in the first round to Clarke.
Both of the Owensboro boys’ doubles teams advanced to the second round before falling to seeded teams.
The Red Devils’ Will Clark/Paul Iracane won 6-4, 6-1 against Ryle’s Cole Januski/Will Snyder in their opener. Clark/Iracane then lost 7-5, 6-0 to the No. 9 seed Greenwood duo of Landon Gann/Parker Young.
Owensboro’s AJ Iracane/Grayson McFarland won via walkover in the first round. They fell 6-1, 6-0 to No. 2 seed Justin Lee/Ben Rueff of Louisville Trinity in round two.
In the girls’ competition, the Lady Aces’ other doubles team of Alyssa Gatten/Olivia Hayden lost 6-0, 6-2 to No. 5 seed Natalie Chou/Ella Rueff of Sacred Heart.
Catholic’s Sarah Kate Young was unable to compete in singles play due to an injury, allowing Lawrence County’s Katelyn Pauley to win via Young’s walkover.
The Apollo girls’ doubles team of Caitlyn Blandford/Madalyn Hyland came up just short in their opener, falling 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 7-6(5) to Hana Dixon/Elsie Kibler of East Jessamine.
