By Don Eskins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Branson Pirates jumped out in front of the field early and then held on down the stretch to claim this year’s 2018 COC-Large Tennis Tournament Championship. The tournament was held at the Cooper Tennis Complex on Wednesday.
Branson finished out the day with 27 points, three points ahead of the runner up Republic Tigers who recorded 24. The Nixa Eagles, with 19, came in third and the Ozark Tigers fourth with 16.
The victory was a huge, but somewhat unexpected, win for the Pirates.
“I knew we’d be coming in as underdogs but I actually liked us in that role because there’s not as much pressure there as there is being seeded high,” said Branson head coach Sean Kembell. “But our kids came together as a team today and played some outstanding tennis reaching five of six singles finals and one of three in doubles. To win the COC-Large Tournament that’s what you have to do- you have to reach the finals. We’re really proud of our kids effort today. Their victory is only the third COC-Large Tournament title in our school’s history.”
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While the Pirates walked away with a COC-Large tournament title Nixa’s Tanner Powley grabbed this year’s championship title with a 9-7 win over Republic’s Dylan Mackey.
“Mackey’s very consistent and it’s hard to hit anything by him,” said Powley. “I just tried to move him around on the court until I got an opportunity to take a shot to win a point. This win today really feels good.”
“The COC-Large is a good tournament, it helps to get us ready to play district,” the Eagles’ number one player said. “Many of the players we saw here today will be at our district tournament so it’s good to get to see them at least once. It really helps out in determining how to play them next week.”
Although Mackey came up on the short end of the scoreboard in singles he rallied, with teammate Hunter Creek, to take this year’s championship doubles title.
“Powley and Robertson played really well today,” said Mackey. “I tried to be more aggressive at the net in our doubles final to help us get the win. I went for all the overheads I could reach.”
“It was a great win for us today. We finally came back to beat Nixa’s number one and two players. We lost to their number one and three players earlier this year, ” said Creek. “I think Dylan and me are going to get to stay together to try and make a run for state. We’ve been playing really well together as of late.”
The Republic Tigers played tough in their bid for a COC-Large Tournament title but in the end had to settle for second place.
“We all played under some tough conditions today with the wind blowing the way it did,” said Tiger head coach Dan Vales. “But Branson played some great tennis and they deserved to win the title today. We scored 24 points, that’s a lot for this tournament and sometimes it’s enough to win, but today things just didn’t go our way.”
Championship Flight Singles
(1) Tanner Powley- Nixa defeated (2) Dylan Mackey- Republic 9-7; (3) Mathew Coleman- Branson defeated (4) Tate Mahnken- Ozark 8-3
Second Flight Singles
(1) Luke Bowling- Branson defeated (2) Luke Mulder- Ozark 8-3; (3) Hunter Creek- Republic defeated (4) Garrett Robertson- Nixa 9-7
Third Flight Singles
(1) Jacob Dralle- Ozark defeated (2) Joseph Jafari- Branson 8-5; (3) Isaac Jordan- Republic defeated (4) Todd Jones- Nixa (Default-Injury)
Fourth Flight Singles
(1) Brett Carpenter- Republic defeated (2) Johnathon Scribner- Branson 8-5; (3) Justin Battaglia- Ozark defeated (4) Mason Fox- Carl Junction 9-7.
Fifth Flight Singles
(1) Trey Carlin- Branson defeated (2) Tanner Barnes- Nixa 8-3; (3) Logan Elder- Republic defeated (4) Connor Idell- Ozark 8-4
Sixth Flight Singles
(1) Garrett Jarvis- Nixa defeated (2) Gavin Brown- Branson 8-6 (3) Austin Massey- Republic defeated (4) Garrett VonBrecker- Ozark 8-5
Championship Doubles
(1) Creek-Mackey Republic defeated (2) Powley-Robertson Nixa 8-2; (3) Coleman-Scribner Branson defeated (4) Mahnken-Dralle Ozark 8-3
Second Flight Doubles
(1) Bowling-Carlin Branson defeated (2) King-Merrithew Carl Junction 8-4; (3) Mulder-Battaglia Ozark defeated (4) Jordan-Carpenter Republic 9-7
Third Flight Doubles
(1) Massey-Elder Republic defeated (2) Barnes-Meads Nixa 8-1; (3) Brown-Jafari Branson defeated (4) Idell-VonBecker Ozark (NS)
All-Conference Players: First and second place finishers in both singles and doubles.
