Safford, Duncan meet for section runner-up

Thatcher claims section title, No. 8 statewide

By Raymundo Frasquillo

SAFFORD – The Brent Lunt-coached Safford tennis girls host the Globe Tigers for a section match on Monday, April 21, at 3 p.m. and Duncan on Tuesday, April 22.

Globe, Duncan, Miami, and Pima have one more section match left this week. Thatcher (8-0), Benson (3-5), Willcox (2-5-1), and Morenci (0-8) each completed section matches last week.

Section I Matches (April 21-26)

The remaining section matches next week (April 21-26) includes Safford hosting Globe and Morenci hosting Willcox on April 21; Safford hosting Duncan and Pima hosting Globe on April 22; and Duncan hosting Miami on April 23.

Non-region pairings include Miami at Gilbert Classical and Benson at Desert Christian on April 22; and Benson at Eloy Santa Cruz and Coolidge at Globe (Miami courts) on April 23.

Division III – Section I standings

The section standings as of April 18 were Thatcher (12-2 seeding, 8-0 section) first, Duncan (11-1, 5-1) second, Safford (8-4, 5-1) third, Miami (5-5, 4-3) fourth, Pima (5-5, 3-4) fifth, Benson (5-7, 3-5) sixth, Willcox (4-7-1, 2-5-1) seventh, Morenci (2-10, 1-7) eighth, and Globe (0-8-1, 0-5-1) ninth.

Section match results have Thatcher over Globe (9-0, Feb. 27), Morenci (9-0, March 27), Benson (9-0, April 1), Willcox (9-0, April 3), Pima (9-0, April 8), Safford (9-0, April 10), Duncan (9-0, April 15), and Miami (9-0, April 17); Duncan over Benson (7-2, March 11), Globe (9-0, March 27), Pima (8-1, March 31), Morenci (8-1, April 10), and Willcox (9-0, April 17); Safford over Pima (7-2, March 27), Willcox (6-0, April 7), Benson (8-1, April 8), Miami (6-3, April 15), and Morenci (8-1, April 17); Miami over Globe (9-0, March 11), Morenci (6-3, April 1), Pima (7-2, April 3), and Globe (6-3, April 7); Pima over Willcox (8-1, April 10), Morenci (8-1, April 15), and Benson (7-2, April 17); Benson over Globe (9-0, March 31), Morenci (7-2, April 3), and Willcox (5-4, April 15); Willcox over Morenci (6-3, April 8) and Miami (6-3, April 14) as well as a tie with Globe (3-3, April 18); Morenci over Globe (9-0, April 4); and Globe tied with Willcox (3-3, April 18).

In non-region pairings to date, it was Thatcher over Safford (9-0, March 4), Tucson Sabino (9-0, March 5), Chandler Prep (7-2, March 6), and Tucson’s The Gregory School (8-1, April 14) along with losses to Sierra Vista Buena (4-5, Feb. 28), Tucson Pusch Ridge Christian 4-5, March 26); Duncan over Patagonia (9-0, March 3), Willcox (9-0, March 4), Pima (8-1, March 10), Morenci (9-0, March 25), and Tucson Andrada Polytechnic (9-0, April 16); Safford over Morenci (9-0, Feb. 27), Tombstone (7-2, April 3), and Sabino (6-3, April 4) along with losses to Thatcher (0-9, March 3), Pusch Ridge (0-9, March 25), and Tucson’s The Gregory School (1-8, April 11); Miami over Globe (6-3, April 7) along with losses to Avondale Saint John Paul II Catholic (0-9, Feb. 26) and Apache Junction (2-7, March 4); Pima over Globe (9-0, March 25) and Tombstone (8-1, April 14); Benson over Saint David (9-0, March 13) and Patagonia (8-1, April 16) along with losses to Andrada Polytechnic (4-5, March 6) and Tombstone (3-5, March 26); Willcox over Saint David (9-0, March 11) and Patagonia (9-0, March 25); Morenci over Tombstone (6-3, March 6); and Globe fell to Santa Cruz (0-9, March 6), Pima (0-9, March 25), and Miami (3-6, April 7).

Division III rankings

The Division III rankings for the nine Section I member teams as of noon on April 18 were Thatcher (12-2 seeding, 10.1434 rating) No. 8, Duncan (11-1, 5.3238) No. 14, Safford (8-4, 1.9792) No. 19, Pima (5-5, minus 3.4313) No. 29, Miami (5-5, minus 4.6915) No. 32, Willcox (4-7, minus 7.8183) No. 36, Benson (5-7, minus 8.1861) No. 37, Morenci (2-10, minus 11.0326) No. 43, and Globe (0-8, minus 18.3063) No. 50.

No. 8 Thatcher Eagles (12-2)

Thatcher has an 8-member team with seniors Emily Sampson, Audrey Smith, Kala Turley, and Cambria Wakefield; juniors Kastie Bastian, Sophia Haynie, and Savanah Kartchner; and sophomore Sarah Sampson.

The Chris Cook-coached Eagles are 75-9 in singles (141-20 sets) and 38-4 in doubles

Top seed Haynie is 12-2 in singles and 22-6 in sets played, No. 2 Turley (9-4, 18-8 sets), No. 3 Emily Sampson (11-3, 21-6 sets), No. 4 Smith (14-0, 26-0 sets), No. 5 Wakefield (14-0, 26-0 sets), No. 6 Sarah Sampson (12-0, 23-0 sets), and Kartchner (3-0, 5-0 sets).

The No. 1 duo of Haynie – Emily Sampson is 12-2, No. 2 Turley – Smith 12-1, No. 3 Wakefield – Sarah Sampson (12-1), Smith – Kartchner 1-0, and Kartchner – Sarah Sampson 1-0.

No. 14 Duncan Wildkats (11-1)

Duncan has an 8-member team with seniors Emily Kempton and Camille Miller; junior Emily Evans; sophomores Roxanne Donaldson, Lily Ford, MacKenzie Jones, and Heidi Miller; and freshman Elvalie Vigil.

The section, second-place Shannon Kempton-coached Wildkats are 58-10 in singles (96-19 sets) and 30-4 in doubles.

Top seed Kempton is 10-2 in singles and 18-4 in sets played, No. 2 Camille Miller (11-1, 19-2 sets), No. 3 Ford (7-4, 13-7 sets), No. 4 Evans (10-1, 16-2 sets), No. 5 Heidi Miller (10-1, 15-2 sets), No. 6 Jones (4-0, 7-0 sets), and Vigil (6-1, 8-2 sets).

The No. 1 duo of Kempton – Camille Miller is 11-1, No. 2 Ford – Evans 9-2, and No. 3 Heidi Miller – Jones 5-0, and Heidi Miller – Vigil 5-1.

No. 19 Safford Bulldogs (8-4)

Safford has a 10-member team with seniors Charlotte Graham and Lexi Neal; juniors Hailey Foot, Phoebe Tarnutzer, and Kimber Taylor; sophomores Lexi Abeyta, Iris Green, and Amanda Neal; and freshmen Maya Biggs and Emma Rodriguez.

The section, third-place Brent Lunt-coached Bulldogs are 21-15 in singles (51-25 sets) and 12-7 in doubles.

Top seed Green is 4-8 in singles and 11-16 in sets played, No. 2 Lexi Neal (7-3, 12-5), No. 3 Taylor (7-3, 15-7 sets), No. 4 Tarnutzer (5-6, 12-12 sets), No. 5 Amanda Neal (8-2, 16-4 sets), No. 6 Rodriguez (5-3, 9-7 sets), Graham (2-3, 5-7 sets), Foot (1-2, 2-4 sets), Biggs (0-3, 0-6 sets), and Abeyta (0-1, 0-2 sets).

The No. 1 duo of Green – Neal is 5-1, No. 2 Graham – Tarnutzer 2-1, and No. 3 Taylor – Amanda Neal 3-1, Green – Taylor 1-3, Green – Tarnutzer 0-1, Graham – Amanda Neal 1-1, Taylor – Rodriguez 1-0, Taylor – Foot 0-1, Tarnutzer – Lexi Neal 2-1, Tarnutzer – Amanda Neal 1-0, Tarnutzer – Rodriguez 1-1, Amanda Neal – Rodriguez 1-1, Tarnutzer – Biggs 2-1, and Rodriguez – Biggs 1-1, Biggs – Foot 0-1.