Top doubles seeds breeze through Day 1

SMAC tennis tournament begins

Friday, May 9, 2008

The SMAC gathering was slated to continue Thursday, too late for inclusion in this edition, before concluding Saturday with the semifinals, finals and consolation matches.In the event of a rainout Thursday, the tournament will be resumed today, picking up where the bracketed play left off Wednesday.

Of the 34 bracketed matches played Wednesday, 32 were of the boys, girls and mixed doubles varieties. The other three were from the girls singles bracket.

All of the No. 1 doubles seeds competed and remained alive through the tournament’s first day.

In boys doubles, top-seeded Zack Newman and Robbie Bourdon of Huntingtown won their first-round match of the tournament in straight sets over their La Plata challengers, 6-0, 6-4, to move into Thursday’s scheduled quarterfinals contest with Great Mills’ unseeded Jake McGuire and Darris Wallner – 6-2, 7-5 winners in their opening-round action.

Newman and Bourdon are unbeaten thus far this season.

‘‘We played good; I didn’t quite finish balls at the net but overall we played good, won our service games mostly,” said Newman, who had a different partner last year in finishing as the SMAC boys doubles runner-up. ‘‘Hopefully, we can make it into regionals and do pretty well there too.”

‘‘I actually thought we were rusty; we didn’t play our best,” added Bourdon, enjoying his first season representing Huntingtown in doubles. ‘‘We were missing a lot of shots in the second set, but we pulled it out. You have to be happy with any win. There are a lot of teams out here we haven’t seen yet. Being undefeated is something that gives us another incentive to win [the tournament].

‘‘We’re confident, but we don’t want to be too confident. You never know what another team is going to be able to do.”

The boys doubles bracket began with 22 teams, the top six duos being seeded going in.

The girls doubles bracket began with 15 teams, while mixed doubles had 14. The top four duos are seeded among those two brackets.

Huntingtown also boasts the top girls doubles seed in Brooke Sneeuwjagt and Kim Beyer. After a first-round bye, they were successful in Wednesday’s quarterfinals with a 6-1 straight-set triumph.

The duo faces La Plata’s Mary Hein and Danira Lutui, seeded fourth, in Saturday’s semifinals.

In mixed doubles, Calvert’s Eric Mills and Kristin Benke are the top seed and both earned a trip to Saturday’s semifinals with a 6-1, 6-3 win in the quarterfinals after a first-round bye.

Though unseeded, Great Mills’ David Rodriguez and Rachel Horner – teaming together just for the postseason – were confident Wednesday about making noise in the mixed doubles bracket.

‘‘I thought we played great, especially considering that this is our first time playing together as a mixed doubles team,” Horner said after prevailing in the first round, 6-2, 6-0, over a Westlake duo. ‘‘We’re both four-year players, so this is really neat for the two of us to join. We were a little jittery at first, but once we got past the nervousness we were really doing well.”

Rodriguez and Horner were scheduled to face their Lackey opponents in the quarterfinals Thursday, weather permitting.

Singles play – with the exception of the three girls matches from Wednesday – was set to take place Thursday, weather permitting. The top four singles in the boys and girls brackets are seeded.

In Wednesday’s limited girls singles action, McDonough’s Diane Berringer upset fourth-seeded Haley Hancock, of Lackey, 6-1, 6-0, in the first round.

Berringer’s celebration was short-lived as she then fell to Great Mills’ Hope Ironmonger, 6-3, 6-4, in the quarterfinals.

‘‘Diane played a great match against Haley,” McDonough head coach Wendy Feight said. ‘‘Diane played a very consistent game, attacked the net and tried to make Haley cover a lot of court. Unfortunately, Diane lost her second match [Wednesday]. It was a tough, frustrating loss for Diane, but she’s really improved from last year and has had a great season. I am extremely proud of her work ethic and dedication and know great things are yet to come.”