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By Don Eskins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Central High School Bulldogs laid claim to this year’s Ozark Conference Championship on Tuesday, May 3, at the Cooper Tennis Complex here in Springfield.
The Bulldogs lost just two games throughout the tournament defeating West Plains 5-0 in the quarterfinals, Rolla 5-0 in the semifinals and Ozark Conference runner-up Bolivar 5-2 in the tournament final.
Finishing third were the Kickapoo Chiefs.
“Our kids are playing with a lot of confidence right now,” said Central head coach Donita Cox. “They’re closing out matches, something they struggled to do earlier in the year. For us, with district and state tournament play just around the corner, that’s a good sign.”
While the Bulldogs have had a few issues to address this season they have been winning. Nearly perfect in 2022, Central has just one loss on its resume.
Cox says that depth has helped give them their competitive edge.
“If you look at our scoresheet at the end of a tournament you’ll see a lot of names,” said the Bulldog coach. “That’s because we usually play about ten kids, rather than just six.”
“I think this has given all of our kids an incentive to work hard every day. They want to play and if they’re performing we do our best to get them on the court,” said Cox. “They’ve all set goals for themselves as well, so when they’re on the court they work hard to achieve them and win.”
Leading Central onto the courts in this year’s Ozark Conference tournament was Josh Kim who anchors down the Bulldogs number one spot. For Kim this year’s conference tournament was his first.
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“The tournament was really exciting, lots of fun and loaded with some very good competition. This is my first year to play high school tennis and I’ve never experienced anything like it,” said Central’s top dog. “Winning the conference title was a complete team effort and it feels great.”
“I think today’s victory, should help to send all of us to our district tournament with a lot of confidence,” said Kim.
The Bulldogs Raghav Bansal and Pranav Mandava also felt that winning this year’s conference crown should be a stepping stone for them to do well at district.
“The field today was really good, especially Bolivar in the championship final. They’re a very good team,” said Mandava. “But getting the win, like we did, makes us all feel good. It was a deserving win because we’ve worked so hard for it. Now we have to do it again at district.”
“We played well today, although things did get a bit dicey in the final with Bolivar. But we pulled together to get the win,” said Bansal. “I think, as a team, we’re ready for district now.”
Cox said that as big as their win over Bolivar was, they did get some unexpected help.
“Bolivar beat Kickapoo in the semi’s 5-4. They had to work really hard to get by the Chiefs,” said Cox. “I think they were a little worn for the final.”
Kickapoo head coach Eric Wilbur concurred.
“We did have a tough one with Bolivar. Our kids played very hard and I was really proud of them for the effort they put out, they just came up a bit short,” said Wilbur. “Bolivar played well too but today belonged to Central. I think, without a doubt, they proved that they are the best team in the Ozark Conference this year.”
Cox said she is hopeful that winning the conference tournament will help her Bulldogs secure the No. 1 seed for this year’s district tournament.
Ozark Results
1. Central
2. Bolivar
3. Kickapoo
4. Rolla
5. Glendale
6. Waynesville
7. West Plains
8. Lebanon
9. Camdenton
10. Parkview
