BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

PIKEVILLE — Brothers Connor and Bryson Dials of Martin County qualified for the KHSAA state tennis tournament after reaching the singles division semifinals last week in the 15th Region tournament. The event took place May 22 at Bob Amos Park in Pikeville.

Connor entered the bracket as the No. 3 seed in the singles division. He reached the semifinals and qualified for state after easily defeating Pikeville High School’s Joshua Perry 6-4, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.

Bryson was the No. 4 seed for Martin County and played his first match against Pikeville’s Lincoln Parson. B. Dials took the first set 6-1. 

Both players were knotted up at 6 apiece and had to enter a tiebreaker in the second set.

Bryson came away with a 7-3 tiebreak score to take the match.

B. Dials took on Johnson Central’s Conner Watts in the quarterfinals. He came away with a 6-3, 6-2 win and locked in with his brother for a trip to Lexington for the 2024 KHSAA state tournament.

In doubles action, duo BJ Parsley and Caleb Horn put up a fight but fell to Vallandingham and Whitaker from Magoffin County 6-4, 6-1.

Byron and Shawn Marcum were defeated by Sweeney and Desario from Lawrence County 6-4, 6-0.

On the girls singles side, Tamara Workman and Aaliyah Cline represented the Cardinals.

Workman was defeated by eventual runner-up Kennedy Gauze of Lawrence County 6-0, 6-0.

Cline put up a valiant fight against Addison Whitfield of Pikeville but fell short 6-3, 6-1.

In girls doubles, Ashdon Kerr and Hailey Damron moved on against Paintsville’s Olivia Maynard and Shayla Ratliff to reach the quarterfinals.

The duo would be defeated 6-1, 6-1 by Thacker and Merlo of Pikeville.

The Cardinal pair of Caitlyn Horn and Lexi Sammons faced off versus Brown and Newsome of Shelby Valley. The Wildcats moved on by a score of 6-2, 6-1.