Mercer girls repeat as regional tennis champs
The Mercer County girls tennis team clinched its fifth consecutive regional team championship tonight when Christy Ingram and Erin Pigman won the girls doubles title in the 12th Region Tournament at Berea College.
Ingram and Pigman defeated Haley Owens and Allie Tinsley of Casey County 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to win their first individual title and give Mercer an insurmountable lead in team points.
In tonight’s other regional finals:
- Colin Hart of Lincoln County won his second consecutive regional title in boys singles, beating Sam Jackson of Berea 6-2, 6-1.
- Defending boys doubles champions Tanner Barrett and Jonah Johnson of Garrard County lost to Austin Kirksey and Corbin Kirksey of Wayne County 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
- The girls singles final between Tylyn Leigh of Casey County and Caitlin Baer of Mercer was suspended in the third set due to rain. The third set is tied at 2-all and will resume at 4 p.m. today.
Berea won the boys team championship; Garrard was the runner-up for the second straight year.
Mercer’s girls will play in a four-team sectional tournament Saturday, which will be hosted by the 10th Region champion. The winning team will advance to the team competition at the state tournament May 17-19 in Lexington.
All regional semifinalists and finalists advance to the state individual competition. Here are the Advocate-area qualifers:
- Boys singles: Hart; Ryan Martin, Casey County.
- Boys doubles: Barrett-Johnson; Ben Akers-Ben Kendrick, Boyle County.
- Girls singles: Leigh; Baer; Emily Major, Garrard County.
- Girls doubles: Ingram-Pigman; Owens-Tinsley; Sara Coffman-Chelsey Lynn, Casey County; Mary Baxter-Catheryne Claunch, Mercer County.
