Rain slows State Games tennis play

By By Cassie Chance/Special to The Star
June 23, 2001
Despite the overcast skies and threat for bad weather, the State Games of Mississippi tennis events got underway on Friday at Northeast Park. The event, which lasts until Sunday, features 150 participants.
In Girls' 12 &under singles, Mary Howard defeated Leigh Hamburg 6-0, 6-2. Hannah Bursom also defeated Kelly Stennis in two sets, 6-4, 6-2. Jenna Johnson fell to Caroline Nanney 6-0, 6-0.
In Girls' 14 &under singles, Anna Claire Marascalco dropped Cory Waters 6-3, 6-0, while Chesley Cobb took down Amy Swartdzsaber by finals of 6-4, 6-4. It took two sets for Mary Harris to defeat Katie Pearson 6-2, 6-1.
In Girls' 16 &under action, Cayse Bond fell to Ashley Bounds 6-1, 6-4 and Katie Pearson defeated Dee Hodges 6-3, 6-2.
The boys' events got under way with the 14 &under singles matches. Brian Nanney defeated Matthew Shamrock, 6-0, 6-2. Kyle Naylor also dropped Cody Killen, 6-0, 6-1. It took two tiebreaker games for Jimmy Epps to defeat
Chase Dunn in two sets, 7-5, 7-5. Dawson Dyess also fell to Samuel Hall, 6-1, 6-2.
Alex Boyd defeated Danny Russell in the first set, 6-1, and then fell in the second set, 0-6. Boyd rebounded in the third game to take the match with a 6-4 win. Josh Sonak dropped Miller Epps in two sets, 6-3, 6-0, and Zachary Stanford fell to Casey Dikes in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Brian Barham took down Elliot Stanford in two straight sets, 6-0, 6-0. It took Kalyen Standford two games to defeat Scott Truesdale, 6-2, 6-2. In the last boys 14 &under event of the day, David Creel fell to John Patton, 6-1, 6-1.
There was only one match in the boys 16 &under event, as Brian Palmer defeated Andrew Busby, 6-0, 6-4.
Boys' 18 &under action saw Daniel Rigdon taking down Clint Nanney, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. It took three sets for Frank Marascalco to drop Russell Johnson, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3. In the last match, Jacob Hudson dropped his first match to Ronald Dallas, 4-6, and then rebounded to take the next two sets, 6-3, 6-4.
The action continues today, weather permitting, at Northeast Park. The junior events are schedule to begin at 8 a.m. The adult events will follow after.