Webb City's Hayes-Stephens win No. 1 doubles in COC tennis tournament
May 6—Living up to their No. 1 seed, Webb City's Trenton Hayes and Cale Stephens teamed up to win the No. 1 doubles bracket in the Central Ozark Conference boys tennis tournament on Wednesday afternoon at the Joplin High School courts.
Hayes-Stephens defeated second-seeded Isaac Forbis-Benjamin Mills of Nixa 8-2 in the championship match.
After a first-round bye, Hayes-Stephens beat Charles Snow-Ryan Phillips of Carthage in the quarterfinals and Caleb Buxton-Hayes Stark of Branson in the semifinals.
The top seeds also prevailed in the other three brackets.
Garrett Beckham-Jacob Decker of Branson won at No. 2 doubles with an 8-3 victory over second-seeded Austin Long-Seth Miller of Willard.
In singles, Caden Lingenfelser of Willard upended second-seeded Gavin Brown of Branson 8-4 in the No. 1 final, and Nathan Bartram of Branson won the No. 2 bracket by beating second-seeded Alex Crawford of Willard 8-4.
Lingenfelser did not lose a game in his quarterfinal and semifinal matches, and Crawford lost one game in his first two matches.
Among area entries, Carl Junction's Blaine Wilkerson placed fourth at No. 1 singles — one spot higher than his seed — and Carthage's Silas Smith was fifth.
Drake Miller of Webb City took fifth place at No. 2 singles by beating Carthage's Colby Tandy 6-2.
In doubles, two area entries finished in sixth place — Charles Snow-Ryan Phillips of Carthage in the No. 1 bracket and Carl Junction's Jose Figueroa-Jordan Markham in the No. 2 bracket.
For Joplin, Michael Mancipe won his first-round match at No. 2 singles.
Area teams begin postseason play on Friday with individual singles and doubles district matches.
