10/7/22
Logan Evans wasn’t ready to put the racket away.
So the Alma senior did some tweaking to his tennis game, including his strong points — the serve and the volley.
The prognosis? Evans was trying to hit the ball too hard.
“That was my problem; I was trying to kill it all the time,” he said. “I can’t do that anymore. I need to be more consistent when it comes to hitting the ball.”
Two matches later, Evans punched his ticket to next week’s Class 5A state tennis tournament in Hot Springs.
Evans punched his ticket to the state tournament with a pair of clinching wins over Russellville and Mountain Home on Monday.
Evans defeated the Cyclones’ Landon Meimerstorf, 6-4, 6-1, in the first match. Evans then defeated Stratton Smith of Mountain Home, 6-3, 6-4.
Evans will face El Dorado’s Wenhua Huong on Monday at Hot Springs Country Club.
“I made the change these last two matches — the conference match and the last match,” Evans explained. “I had a bunch of coaches coming up to me, noticing the changes that I had made. They didn’t expect me to win, since I was the sixth seed and the guy I was playing was the third seed. They thought he (Meimerstorf) was going to automatically beat me.”
Now the fun part. Prepping for the state tournament.
“It’s really exciting but it’s kind of nerve-racking at the same time,” he said. “I honestly never thought I was going to get here. This year I showed out and finally did what needed to be done.”
Evans’ changes included a more disciplined approach as well.
“I was focused and determined,” he said. “I just hit the ball and I was in my zone — and I hadn’t been in my zone the whole year.
“I just found that perfect spot where I could hit the ball, be in the zone, and be consistent.”
Evans said representing his school means a lot.
“I want our school to be good in everything,” he said. “ I want us to be good in football, good in basketball … I want us to be good in everything. I want us to have a good look on the school.
“If the tennis team is doing good, the football team’s doing good, the basketball team is doing good … I feel like that’s going to bring in more kids being interested in our school.”
Evans said he’s hopeful of playing on the college level, though he doesn’t yet have any suitors. “I’m hopeful of going to the U of O (University of the Ozarks),” he said.