By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Willard and Branson racked up the medals on Wednesday at the Central Ozark Conference tennis tournament in Joplin.
The two schools took home all four gold medals and added a silver and two bronze for good measure.
“It was a good day for the Pirates,” Branson head coach Sean Kembell said. “The boys played hard and had fun doing it.”
“Just a great job by our kids,” said Willard assistant J.J. Adamson. “They came out and were mentally strong, stayed to the game plan and really stuck together and had a great showing really from everybody.”
Willard picked up championships in No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles and added a third-place finish in the No. 2 doubles bracket.
Tigers’ senior Caden Lingenfelser capped his strong career in the COC with the singles championship after defeating Branson’s Nathan Bartram 8-1 on Wednesday. Lingenfelser won his three matches by a combined 24-2.
“He just speaks for himself,” Adamson said. “His track record over the last three years is pretty unbelievable.”
Bartram, Branson’s No. 1 for the last three seasons, entered as the two seed and won his first two matches 16-5 to get to the finals.
“He’s our senior captain,” Kembell said. “I expected him to meet Caden in the finals and I’m not surprised that Caden was able to beat Nate again. Caden is an extraordinary player. He’s probably the finest player I’ve seen in the conference in my 16 years as coach and so I’m proud of Caden from Willard, can’t wait to hear about his future in college tennis, and I’m proud of Nate for another medal at COC.”
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Willard’s duo of Dawson Amstutz and Seth Miller were the top seed in the No. 1 doubles bracket and lived up to the billing. The beat Ozark 8-2, then topped Republic 8-3 and finished off Joplin 8-4 in the championship.
“Our No. 1 doubles has really come along this year,” Adamson said. “Both Seth Miller and Dalton Amstutz have really come of age and are putting together a heck of a year. They’re now over 30 wins against only two losses.”
In No. 2 doubles, Willard’s Brigham Thedell and Gabe Hernandez defeated Nixa 8-6 in the third-place match after falling to Ozark 9-8 (7-2) in the semifinals.
“Really it’s been a collective team effort so far this year and we expect nothing less,” Adamson said. “Coach (Ty) Bills has done a great job putting the pieces in place for success to happen. Guys are just doing their jobs, doing what they’re asked and sticking to the game plan. It’s been really fun to watch.”
Branson took home gold in No. 2 singles and No. 2 doubles.
After winning 8-4 in his first two matches, top seed Ben Merrifield earned an 8-1 win over Neosho in the finals. And Josh Brown and Zach Zander won each of their three matches 8-4, beating top-seeded Ozark in the finals, despite entering the day seeded sixth.
“At two singles we played our No. 3 player, Ben Merrifield, who’s a freshman,” Kembell said. “He has tons of talent. I was not surprised by that result at all. He’s going to be a very fun player to watch over the next three years. Tennis runs in his family’s blood.
“Our two doubles team had actually not played a single match together all year long, but we put them in today,” he said. “I always talk to the boys about having energy out there, that the emotion you bring into a doubles match can carry you through. I know Josh and Zach, they brought that intensity and that positivity to the match and their emotion just carried them through to victory.”
In addition to Bartram’s second-place finish in No. 1 singles, the Pirates placed third in No. 1 doubles with Jack Dawson and Preston Volz – seeded third – besting Republic 8-6 in the third-place match. They suffered a close 9-8 (10-9) loss to Joplin in the semifinals.
Nixa, Neosho, Carthage, Joplin and Ozark each came away with one medalist.
Nixa’s Carson Palmer finished third in No. 1 singles, beating Ozark 8-3 in the finale.
Neosho and Carthage were second and third, respectively, in No. 2 singles. Neosho’s Reid Snyder, the sixth seed, advanced to the finals with a tiebreaker over Carthage’s Joshua Rivera before falling 8-1 to Branson. Rivera went on to win 8-4 in the third-place match against Carl Junction.
Joplin’s No. 1 doubles team of Adam Badr and Josiah Hazlewood fell 8-4 to Willard in the championship. The second-seeded Eagles got there with the tiebreak win against Branson in the semifinals.
Ozark’s No. 2 doubles team of Ben Romano and Nick Psarev lost 8-4 to Branson in the finals. The top seed, they also got there with a tiebreaker in the semifinals, beating Willard 9-8 (7-2).
