HARLAN — Corbin’s Lindsay Jones and Katie Morton continued their dominance in the 13th Region Girls’ Doubles Tournament by capturing another region title while eighth grader Isabella Lopez cruised to the singles championship.
Both Jones and Morton have now won five consecutive regional titles — Morton in doubles with the last two coming with Jones while Jones had won three in singles, and now two in doubles.
In doubles action, No. 1 seed Morton and Jones dominated their bracket, not dropping a single game the entire tournament (a feat Jones also did in the singles region tournament in 2021).
They cruised through teams from South Laurel, North Laurel and both of Clay County’s teams claiming the championship.
“I’ve said it before, but these two have played together since they were barely taller than the net,” Jones said. “Their chemistry and movement is off the charts. They’re a really fun team to watch.
“We should get a top four seed at state for Katie and Lindsay, which would give us a clear path to the semifinals and a shot to win the tournament,” he added. “It’s going to be a big year for us to go deep in singles with Bella and in doubles with Katie and Lindsay. Tennis is such a hard sport and the time and effort these girls have put in to continue this legacy that is Corbin Tennis is nothing short of amazing.”
Corbin’s other doubles action saw the duo of freshman Tory Canady and eighth grader Mollie Coleman secure the No. 4 seed which got them a bye in the first round.
They came up short in the round of 16 losing to Knox Central.
“This was the first time for our girls to play in a regional tournament and they went up against some older girls,” Jones said. “I think the pressure of the moment got to us a little and we just couldn’t convert in the big points. The good news is they’re both very young and will continue to mature and improve as players.”
In singles action, Lopez cruised through all the early rounds without dropping a single game (6-0, 6-0 in each round) before meeting Bell County’s Winkler in the championship.
“Bella jumped out strong and took the first set 6-0, but to her credit, Winkler and her coach made some adjustments and turned the second set into an all out battle before Bella just overpowered her 6-4 in the second,” Jones said. “Bella works so hard and she has such a big game, you forget she’s only in eighth grade when you watch her play. She’s not even finished middle school yet and she’s already won the region twice and made it to the semifinals last year in her first state tournament. We should be looking at a top four seed at state for Bella which means we should have a good shot to win the whole thing.”
Olivia McArthur was the No. 3 seed in the tournament, receiving a first round bye before cruising to an easy win in the round of 16 over Pineville 6-0, 6-0.
She then picked up an easy quarterfinal win over North Laurel 6-1, 6-1, before meeting Bell County’s No. 2 seeded Emma Winkler.
“Although Winkler is just a freshman, she was region runner-up last year and has improved a lot since then,” Jones said. “Olivia had a shaky first set losing 1-6, but came roaring back in the second set and pushed it to a tie breaker before coming up just a little short losing the tiebreaker 2-7. Olivia has been one of my year round, hardest working players for many years now and it really shows in the success she’s had in both doubles and singles.
“This week begins the other region tournament called the team region where you play a format simultaneously of three singles matches and two doubles matches and the first team to win three of the five courts advances,” he added. “The top team from each region goes on to play a team state tournament.”
