Under cover : Fayetteville coach keeps tournament pairings close to vest
Posted on Monday, October 6, 2008
ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Fayetteville sophomore Roby Hodous returns a shot during the Dogs ’ match with Rogers Sept. 22 in Wilson Park.
The Fayetteville tennis team has the numbers, but they still don't have the lineup set for their Monday foray into the 7 A-West Conference tournament.
First-year Fayetteville boys tennis coach Darin Phelan is still trying to figure out which pairings and two single competitors will provide the Purple Dogs with the most points in the tournament scheduled to begin today at noon in Bella Vista.
The 7 A-West conference teams are limited to two doubles teams and two single competitors for a total of six players. It's quite a contrast to the conference season when things were much more open for lineup shifts with the opportunity of double matches.
"It's been pretty difficult," Phelan said of the decision of narrowing his lineup down to six players.
Fayetteville (7-5 ) will not have a set playing schedule until a meeting of the 7 A-West coaches concludes this morning. The meeting will determine seedings and the teams'competitors, Phelan said.
And every coach is keeping their cards close to the vest, including Phelan. The Bulldogs will bring Rob Hodous, John Byrd, Sanjay Selvam, Robert Sherman, Mason Gocke and Patrick Shields to the tournament. Outside of that, pairings and single competitors are up in the air.
What is known is that no player can compete in more than one pairing or singles competition, due to conference tournament rules in the point system tournament set to begin today at noon in Bella Vista.
Hodous and Byrd, however, remain as Fayetteville's best, Phelan said.
"After that, nobody has really stood out," he said. "We've mixed the teams up a bit during the year."
Shields has been one of the better double players for the Bull- dogs and Sanjay, who Phelan described as more of an "adult player"because of his prudence on the baseline, has also proven to be good in doubles.
Selvam and Sherman have been paired in doubles competition during the conference season. Sherman has also paired with Gocke in conference play.
The difficulty of pairings and limited numbers are also affecting the Lady Dogs, whose top spot in singles has been topsy-turvy. Annemarie Beck and Madison Watt have flip-flopped throughout the season as the team's No. 1 singles player.
What proves taxing is that Beck is also one of the top double players for Fayetteville. Due to conference rules, Beck will not be able to compete in both singles and doubles.
On the boys side, the Bulldogs have struggled to break through against the conference elite of Bentonville (12-0 ) and Fort Smith Southside. Six of their seven wins have come against Springdale, Rogers and Rogers Heritage.
"We've been competing, but once we get to 5-all or 6-all, we don't have the experience," Phelan said. "It's all about mental toughness."
But that doesn't mean the Bulldogs will falter Monday and Tuesday in a new format and field, where the top six doubles and singles competitors advance to the state championships at Burns Park in North Little Rock on Oct. 20.
"If we're able to turn it on and continue to finish what we started, we have a shot," Phelan said. "We've had chance to win the last couple of matches and if we can get solid play, we're just as good as Bentonville and Southside. In a tournament format, anything can happen."
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