By John R. Schirmer
News-Leader staff
The Scrapper and Scrapperette tennis teams are preparing for next week’s Class 4A state tournament to be played in Russellville.
The Scrapperettes enter the tournament as the winners of District 7-4A.
Olivia Herzog and Kendall Kirchhoff won the district doubles championship.
McKenzie Morphew and Leslie Lingo were the doubles runners-up.
Both teams advanced to state. Coach Damon Williams was the district’s Coach of the Year.
The Scrappers were runners-up in District 7-4A, and Zach Backus and Glenn Hartness won the doubles championship and advanced to state.
Since the district tournament Oct. 3, the teams have been getting ready for state. “We’ve had good practices last week and this week,” Williams said. “They’re excited about going to state.”
All three doubles teams will compete at Russellville. “We won’t know seedings until Friday,” Williams said.
“There’s a possibility that Glenn and Zach will get the number 1 seed. It’s the same for Olivia and Kendall,” but the seedings won’t be set until a tournament committee meeting Friday.
“I feel pretty good” going in,” Williams said. “They seem to be ready. I tried to tell them [Monday] that it’s just another match. Go out there and play.”
Kirchhoff and Herzog are undefeated in conference and overall. Backus and Hartness are undefeated in conference.
The netters will practice the rest of the week, including Saturday, and leave Sunday for Russellville.
The tournament begins Monday, Oct. 17 and continues Tuesday, Oct. 18 with the semifinals and finals.
“The players are excited. They’ll be ready,” Williams said.