Berett Hollis, Rodney Steven prepare for another 5A tennis clash

Last year, Arkansas City’s Berett Hollis beat Bishop Carroll’s Rodney Steven in the regional boys tennis singles final, but Steven got revenge by defeating Hollis in the state final.

This year, senior Hollis fought his way to a 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory over Steven in last Friday’s regional at Ark City.

So is the stage is set for Steven, a junior, to duplicate last year’s success?

“It’s exactly what happened last year,” Carroll coach Darren Huslig said. “Rodney lost to Berett in the finals at regionals, and then got him at state. Of course, we’re hoping for the same thing to happen.

“The fact he (Steven) lost – you never want to lose – but it does give him something to go after. It’s not the end of the world.”

Huslig said Steven should do well at state.

“If he plays his game and doesn’t let anything get in his way, if he brings his ‘A’ game, he should be all right,” Huslig said.

Steven said he’d like to get another shot at Hollis. That probably would be in the final.

“I’d like to play him again because he got me at regionals,” he said. “I’m putting in a lot of work this week in practice so we can meet up again at state in the finals.”

One outcome Huslig would like to change would be in the team standings, where the Golden Eagles were edged out by Eisenhower for the title. With Steven favored to do well in singles, Carroll will bank on doing well in doubles, qualifying both of their teams.

“Carroll’s never had a (boys) team title, so it would be really cool for us to get one,” Steven said.

Both of Carroll’s doubles teams – juniors Ty Stranghoner and Jackson Oxler at No. 1, as well as junior Jace Brown and Huslig’s son Braeden at No. 2 – qualified for state.

Carroll didn’t put a doubles team in last year’s state semifinals, which might have provided a margin of victory.

“I don’t think we’re stronger in doubles, but I think our 1s are stronger than they were last year,” Huslig said. “Jackson and Ty are a better team than they were last year. We’re looking for them to do a little better (at state).”

Stranghoner and Oxler, who have been together since both were freshmen, won the regional doubles title, avenging an earlier loss to Eisenhower senior Collin Anderson and junior Tyler McGreevy 6-4, 6-1.

Stranghoner said the regional victory was really tough and he was glad to stick with doubles.

“I might have played singles this year, except we looked at the regional competition for doubles and were told, ‘You guys could finish a lot better (as a doubles team),’ ” he said.

The regional triumph provides some momentum, Oxler said.

“It definitely pumps us up in a sense and gives us a driving force to go on to state and take on the competition there,” he said.

Another school from the regional that can’t be discounted is Ark City, which not only qualified Hollis but also Pierce Klassen in singles, plus the doubles team of Mathis Mueller and Patrick McGee.

“There’s a lot of teams out there … it’s going to be a real dogfight for the state title,” Huslig said. “Hopefully, we’ll be in the mix, but it’s going to be tough.”

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Berett Hollis, Rodney Steven prepare for another 5A tennis clash."