Parker Stearns finished strong in winning the 7A-Central Conference boys singles title Thursday afternoon, but the Little Rock Catholic sophomore seemed almost disappointed with the way the match progressed.
Stearns won the final six games in knocking off Van Buren's Braydon Montgomery, 6-4, 6-2, in the championship match at Rebsamen Tennis Center.
"I was really playing my best today and he wasn't 100 percent in the second set," Stearns said. "I'm really sad about that because I like real wins. ... I just feel bad because usually when we play, it's always close."
Thursday's match was even for the first nine games with both players holding serve. Stearns, however, broke Montgomery's serve to win the first set.
Montgomery, who was the Overall and Class 7A runner-up in 2014, responded by winning the first two games of the second set, but the Pointers' senior was sluggish the rest of the match.
"He was cramping," Stearns said. "That was one of my best days, but not one of his."
It was a great day for the Rockets, who cruised to the team title with 16 points. Little Rock Central finished as the runner-up with nine points.
Catholic's team of Henry Nolan and Steven Weeks won the doubles title with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Central's Connor Bierbaum and Andrew Maxson.
Mount St. Mary was even more dominant in winning the girls' team title where the Belles also swept the singles and doubles titles.
Freshman Margaret Lucas defeated teammate Brooke Buckner 6-4, 6-3 for the singles crown.
"That was a hard match for me to play because Brooke is not only my teammate, but she's also my friend," Lucas said. "Both of us really wanted to win, but I didn't like having to beat her to do it."
Lucas had advanced to the finals by scoring a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-2 (10-3) victory over Central's Becky Sherman in the semifinals.
"I was really nervous," Lucas said. "I didn't know how I was going to play ... I felt better after I won my first couple of games."
Mount St. Mary's team of Conley Norris and Tyler Noonan defeated Conway's Alexis Rogers and Holly Jones for the doubles title, 3-6, 6-3 (13-11).
The 7A state tournament will be played at Memorial Park in Bentonville on Oct. 19-20.
Sports on 10/09/2015