BENTONVILLE -- A freshman quickly ended any suspense the 7A-West Conference girls tennis tournament may have had Wednesday afternoon.
Bentonville High's Brooke Killingsworth barely needed an hour to defeat Fayetteville's Cam Cupelli and helped the Lady Tigers clinch the team title at Memorial Park. The Lady Tigers finished with a two-day total of 18 points, while Fayetteville had 11.
7A-West Conference Tennis Tournament
at Memorial Park, Bentonville
Thursday’s results
Boys
Team totals — Rogers High 17, Fayetteville 8, Bentonville High 4, Bentonville West 4, Springdale Har-Ber 2, Rogers Heritage 1, Springdale High 1, Van Buren 1.
Singles
Semifinals
Jack Vaughn (4), Rogers, def. Hans Corbell (1), Fayetteville, 6-4, 6-4; Hayden Shoemake (3), West, def. Michael Zheng (2), Rogers, 6-3, 6-3.
Championship
Jack Vaughn (4), Rogers, def. Hayden Shoemake (3), West, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Doubles
Semifinals
Hayes/Runnels (1), Fayetteville, def. Corbett/Srivastava (5), Bentonville, 7-5, 6-1; Matthews/Henry (3), Rogers, def. Berry/Clardy (2), Har-Ber, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Championship
Matthews/Henry (3), Rogers, def. Hayes/Runnels (1), Fayetteville, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Girls
Team scores — Bentonville High 18, Fayetteville 11, Bentonville West 3, Rogers High 3, Rogers Heritage 1, Springdale Har-Ber 1, Van Buren 1.
Singles
Semifinals
Brooke Killingsworth (1), Bentonville, def. Sarah Schneringer (5), West, 6-0, 6-1; Cam Cupelli (2), Fayetteville, def. Emma Baker (3), Bentonville, 6-4, 6-2.
Championship
Brooke Killingsworth (1), Bentonville, def. Cam Cupelli (2), Fayetteville, 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles
Semfinals
Cheung-Damonte/Hargrove (1), Bentonville, def. Bain/Rogers (5), Fayetteville, 6-2, 6-2; Houston/Mauromostakos (2), Fayetteville, def. Humbert/Sullivan (3), Bentonville, 6-3, 6-0.
Championship
Cheung-Damonte/Hargrove (1), Bentonville, def. Houston/Mauromostakos (2), Fayetteville, 6-4, 6-3.
"It's great. It's awesome," Killingsworth said. "I'm really happy about it. I've worked really hard for this."
Bentonville had a 12-11 lead over Fayetteville heading into the championship matches, which meant the Lady Tigers needed to win just one of the two matches to earn the title. Killingsworth, the top-seeded singles player, took care of that when she claimed a 6-1, 6-1 victory over the second-seeded Cupelli.
Killingsworth, who only lost three games through eight sets during the tournament, went to her power game early and often and continually used it to keep Cupelli on her heels. She managed to break serve early in both sets and take control of the match.
"I was getting ready for a fight," said Killingsworth, who advanced to the final with a "Cam's a great player, and we have battled it out all season. I had a game plan and knew what I was going to do. I wrote it all in my notebook and went out ready to fight to the bitter end.
"I was going to hit a topspin on my first serve to her backhand, then move her side to side. I was jumping the gun a little at first and trying to attack too early, so I had to settle down and get in my groove."
The doubles final took a little bit longer, but the result was similar. Bentonville's team of Avery Hargrove and Taylor Cheung-Damonte had to hold off the Fayetteville duo of Mary Houston and Anna Mauromostakos for a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
It's the second straight time Cheung-Damonte won the conference doubles title, but with a different playing partner. Hargrove, meanwhile, was on the losing end of the doubles final last year before winning it this year.
"You have to be cohesive with your partner," Cheung-Damonte said. "You can't be against each other. You always have to be there to lift them up, and all the girls on Bentonville's team are like that. They lift each other up, and no matter who I play with, it's a good experience."
Neither team could hold serve early in the first set, which allowed both teams the opportunity to take control. Hargrove and Cheung-Damonte finally did that midway through both sets and did enough to keep Houston and Mauromostakos at bay.
"It's always been my dream to win a conference championship match," Hargrove said. "I've never done it before, so for me, this was a really, really big deal. I'm really excited."
Sports on 10/06/2016