JOPLIN - In a close battle, Carthage edged Joplin 5-4 in a tennis dual match on Tuesday afternoon at the JHS courts.
"Take away a few unforced errors, and the results could have flipped in our favor," Joplin coach Aaron Stump said. "Our doubles teams are doing a nice job communicating, and we won three out of six singles matches."
Carthage held a 2-1 lead after doubles with victories from Silas Smith-Ryan Phillips at No. 1 and Colby Tandy-Charles Snow at No. 2. Tandy-Snow won a close contest over Ben Wardow-Colin Vermillion 9-7, and Smith-Phillips beat Logan Merkley-Jeffrey Evenson 8-4.
Joplin's Josh Yarnall-Michael Mancipe won the No. 3 doubles match over Silas Laytham and Daniel Lopez-Gramajo 8-3.
In singles, Carthage had victories by Smith 8-2 over Merkley at No. 1, Laytham 8-2 over Mancipe at No. 5 and Lopez-Gramajo 8-4 over Vermillion.
Wardlow, after losing the first five games, rallied to defeat Phillips 8-6 at No. 3 singles. The Eagles' other victories were by Evenson 8-5 over Tandy at No. 2 and Yarnall 8-3 over Snow at No. 4.
-Joplin Globe Sports Staff Reports