Sports
Tennis trio qualifies for regional tournament
Sunday, 29 April 2012 by Chuck Kelly
Three members of coach Kyle Larson's Tiger Tennis squad have qualified to advance to the Class 5A Region II Tournament April 17-18.
The district's top male singles player, Jacob Daugherty, and his teammates, Daniel Barron and Ryan Jones, men's doubles team, earned the right to move forward with successful showings at last week's District 12-5A competition at Temple High's Wildcat Courts.
Daugherty, the top seed in his division in the district play, experienced very little trouble in capturing the district singles title. He dominated on the opening day, not losing a single match. The young sophomore downed Eric Hamilton of Harker Heights, Luis Morales of Bryan and Eric Juarez of Copperas Cove on Wednesday enroute to the championship showdown the following day.
In the final Thursday morning, Daugherty faced A&M Consolidated's Zavier Habib. The talented Belton Tiger handily disposed of Consol's Tiger 6-3, 6-1 to claim the District 12-5A title.
Thie will be Daugherty's second trip to regionals. As a freshman, he competed in mixed doubles with his sister, Katie, a senior, and the duo lost in the second round.
The Belton boys doubles team of senior Daniel Barron and junior Ryan Jones also advanced to the regionals by finishing as district doubles runners-up. The pair defeated Temple's Zuberi & Wilson, Ellison's Hernandez & Castro, and A&M Consolidated's Torres & Quatemont before falling 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the title game against Consolidated's Walter & Wilding.
A&M Consolidated won the district Boys' team title, with Belton finishing in second place. Copperas Cove won the district Girls' team title while Belton claimed third place behind Consolidated.
The Class 5A Region II Tournament will be held April 17-18 at Waco Regional Tennis Center. The State Tournament is scheduled for May 9-10 in Austin.
