by Jason Drake

Last Friday, the Woodville Eagles traveled to Beaumont to play in the annual South Park Invitational Tournament.  The tournament was played at Lamar University and Municipal Athletic Complex.

For the second week in a row the Woodville Eagle Tennis team showed that they will be a force to reckon with this season.  In the boys' singles division, Sean O'Neal was one of the top seeded players and proved he belonged there.  O'Neal had wins over Hardin-Jefferson (8-0), Ozen (8-1) and West Brook (8-3).   He then matched up with Bilal Mahmood of Beaumont.  Mahmood was the top seeded player entering the tournament.  O'Neal went up early 1-0 before Mahmood exited the tournament due to cramping.  Sean was awarded the gold medal.

In the ninth grade boys division, Caleb Dinger proved to be the top player in his bracket.  Dinger also came home with the gold medal with wins over Kountze (8-2), Legacy Christian #2 (8-2), Bridge City #2 (8-1).  In the semi-finals Dinger met up with Bridge City #1 in a highly contested match.  He was able to pull out a 9-7 victory and advance to the finals against Legacy Christian's Steven Hospodar.  Caleb, again, proved his tennis strength disposing of Hospodar 8-5.

In the ninth grade boys' double division, the team of Justin Livingston and Josh Sheffield came in third place.

The girls' doubles team of Claire Kenneson and Samantha Ruble had a big win over Bridge City (8-6)., before falling to Nederland by the same score.  However, Woodville entered two more doubles teams composed of Carolina Baeza and Audrey Brookshire along with Aurenna Stacey and Cameron Hutto.  Baeza and Brookshire had wins over West Orange-Stark (8-3), Kirbyville (8-1), and Bridge City (8-2) before going to the finals.  Stacey and Hutto defeated Kirbyville (8-6), Silsbee (8-2), and Nederland (8-4) before reaching the finals.  Carolina Baeza and Audrey Brookshire came up victorious over teammates Aurenna Stacey and Cameron Hutto (8-1).  This gave the Lady Eagles the gold and silver medals.

In mixed doubles, Austin Coker and Kristen Swafford defeated district foe Kirbyville 8-2.  The Eagles themselves paired up with 5A Beaumont West Brook's #1 seed.  Westbrook outlasted Woodville (9-7).

Grant Hensarling managed to finish runner-up in the boys' singles Consolation bracket.

The Woodville Eagles finished the regular season with a 66-46 rout of the Warren Warriors.  The Eagles finished district in third place advancing to the playoffs.  Woodville used a balanced scoring attack with seven Eagles scoring six or more points.  The game opened with a stalemate.  The Warriors tied the score 8-8 with three minutes left in the first quarter.  The Eagles widened the mark to 16-11 after the first and 30-20 at the half.  Woodville would break things open in the second half.  Sam Matterson led all scorers with 14 points including a pair of three pointers.  Marcus Harrison put in 11.  Marqui Jackson added 8eight while Allen Lee, Jamal Horn, and T.C. Mitchell each scored seven.  The JV finished the season with a 60- 33 win over Warren.  The Eagles will meet Crockett in the first round.

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