Duncan Park hosts South State tennis tournament

Published 2:42 am Wednesday, April 28, 2010

NATCHEZ — Duncan Park might be hosting the MAIS Class A South State tennis tournament, but there certainly wasn’t much of a home court advantage for local players.

Only one player from either Trinity Episcopal or Huntington advanced out of Tuesday’s preliminary rounds to reach the championship match today.

That player was Trinity’s Rudy Timm, who will compete against Denny Johnson of Chamberlain-Hunt Academy in the No. 2 boys singles championship match at 10:30 a.m.

Email newsletter signup

Timm defeated Jason Livingston of Riverfield in the first round before beating Street Buntyn of Brairfield in the second round.

He then rolled past Connor Smith of University Christian 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals to advance to today’s championship match.

However, other players from Trinity and Huntington weren’t so fortunate.

Trinity’s Mark Iles was defeated in the second round by Franklin Academy’s Brett Grieme while the Trinity No. 1 boys doubles team of R.J. Givens and Carter Smith were defeated in the first round by Tensas Academy.

Huntington’s No. 1 boys doubles team of Cody Dye and Colby Gray lost in the second round to Newton Academy.

The Trinity No. 2 boys doubles team of Chapman Sharpe and Turner Lessley advanced to the semifinals before they were defeated by University Christian.

In No. 1 girls singles, Trinity’s Emory Smith advanced past the first round, but lost in the second round to Lindy Carroll of Franklin Academy.

Huntington’s Laurin Murphy also fell in the second round to Rachel Wilson of University Christian.

Trinity’s Bethany Ogden advanced to the semifinals in No. 2 girls singles before she was eliminated by Rayanne Craven of University Christian while Huntington’s Paige Whittington lost in the first round to Taylor Howard of Brairfield.

In No. 1 girls doubles, the Trinity pair of Savannah Vance and Madeline Iles lost in the quarterfinals to University Christian while Huntington’s team of Abbey Ashmore and Allie Boothe were defeated in the first round by Tallulah.

The Trinity and Huntington teams faced off against each other in the first round of No. 2 girls doubles, with the Saints duo of Laura Ann Brown and Christina Givens defeating the Huntington pair of Hunter Marks and Natali Tarver.

However, the Trinity team would fall in the quarterfinals to Newton Academy.