ROGERS -- A late push of applicants has made way for a competitive field for the Mattel Summer Junior Open State Championships, which takes place this weekend.
Pinnacle Country Club tennis pro J.D. Hall, who serves as the tournament's director, said there are 127 singles entries and more than 70 doubles entries for the event, which takes place on the club's six courts as well as the 12 courts at Memorial Park in Bentonville. There were only 30 singles entries who had registered as of Sunday night.
Mattel Summer Junior Open State Championships
When: today through Sunday
Where: Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, and Memorial Park courts, Bentonville
Boys Top Seeds
18s: Braydon Montgomery, Alma
16s: Hudson Brown, Marion
14s: Jake Sweeney, Rogers
12s: Cooper Gommel, Rogers
Girls Top Seeds
16s: Avery Hargrove, Rogers
14s: Mary Houston, Fayetteville
12s: Cydney Rogers, Jonesboro
10s: Mary Martfield, Springdale
Brackets and match times, other information can be found at tennislink.usta.com…
"We're usually right around that 127 mark every year," Hall said. "That's a great start, and we're getting kids from a lot of different places. It always blows up late, and I think that's because they want to see the other applicants.
"That's probably the most doubles entries we have seen here, which is a great thing for the kids. We're looking forward to having them play as much as possible. We'll have about 230 matches on 18 courts."
Hall is particularly pleased with the way the tournament has attracted players from different areas, as well as a strong Northwest Arkansas contingent. Players have signed up from Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and other parts of Arkansas.
He said the boys 16s singles will be a competitive division with 29 players in the field. On the girls side, Hall sees good things coming from the 14s and the 16s singles, with both age groups having 13 players registered.
"Kyle Hudson is one of the big stars in that boys 16s group, and he's a good player," Hall said. "We're happy to see the number of girls playing this year because we didn't have many play last year. This one seems to have a lot of girls, so that's good."
The field includes a number of players who did well in high school postseason play last year. Brayden Montgomery, the top seed in boys 18s singles, was a Class 7A state runner-up for Van Buren, while Ryan Hargrove was one-half of Bentonville's Class 7A state doubles champion team.
Hargrove's sister, Avery, who was on Bentonville's No. 2 doubles team last year, drew the top seed in girls 16s singles. She will be joined in that age group by second seed Cameryn Capelli of Fayetteville, a 7A state quarterfinalist in singles, as well as third seed Addyson Lewis of Rogers, who also reached the quarterfinals in doubles.
Sports on 07/17/2015