ROSEBURG – Roseburg High School hosted the opening rounds of the Southwest Conference boys tennis district tournament at the Umpqua Tennis Center on Wednesday and the Indians have three doubles teams into the semifinals and qualified for the state tournament later this month.

Top-seeded doubles partners Stefan and Lucas Ball haven’t lost a point on their way to the semifinals. The duo has beaten teams from Sheldon, North Medford, and South Eugene, but next they will face another Roseburg tandem in Paul Bonnet and Ethan Smith. Bonnet and Smith are seeded third and have won each of their first three matches in straight sets.

Also in the semifinals is the team of seniors Kyle Yates and Nicholas Norlin-Pritchard. The duo upset the fourth-seeded team from South Eugene in the first round and rolled through the second round and quarterfinals, winning in straight sets. They will try to pull off another upset when they face South Medford’s second-seeded duo of Kylar Tosh and Ben Vaughn.

In the singles game, Roseburg sophomore Tanner Todd won his first match by default to move into the winner’s bracket, but lost in the second round to finish the tournament. Fellow sophomore Quinn Johnson lost in the first round, but has turned his game around and reeled off three straight wins to make it to the consolation championship match.

The Roseburg boys are in second place for the team scores, but have been mathematically eliminated from catching team leader South Eugene. The Axemen will host the final day of the district tournament on Saturday and the qualifying teams will compete in the state tournament beginning on May 19 in Tualatin. 

The Southwest Conference district tournament for girl’s tennis begins Thursday morning in Roseburg at the Umpqua Tennis Center.

2016 Boys District scores 1st day

2016 Boys District singles 1st day

2016 Boys District draws doubles 1st day

– Joey Keeran | joey@bciradio.com | @joeykeeran