Northside tennis coach Martin Hyatt had the perfect nickname for his top boys singles player, senior Will Thames.

“Mr. Consistency,” Hyatt said of Thames. “He’s always prepared, he stays stable and consistent, you always know what you’re going to get.

“Whoever beats him is going to have to do it with winners; they’re going to have to beat him, he’s not going to beat himself.”

On Thursday, during Northside’s last 6A-Central home tennis match of the season against Cabot, Thames’ talents were once again on full display, posting an 8-4 win against Cabot’s top seed, Easton Usery, as both Northside teams posted a sweep at the Creekmore Tennis Center.

The Grizzlies won 6-1, while the Lady Bears prevailed, 5-2.

Thames has been a mainstay on the Grizzlies since he was a freshman. He had been part of the team’s No. 1 doubles team from his freshman year before switching to singles prior to Thames’ junior season.

As a junior, Thames qualified for the state tournament, and with Thursday’s win, he raised his record to 4-2.

“It’s going good; I’ve been happy with the way I’m playing, I feel like I’ve gotten a whole lot better in the past couple of years playing high school tennis,” Thames said. “I’ve won all the matches I should win and I’ve put up a hard fight in the other ones I have lost, so I feel like it’s been good.”

Thames added he had no problem making the switch to playing singles prior to his junior season.


“It was all right; I prefer playing singles, so it was really a good thing for me,” he said. “But my first few years at Northside, it was good to have some seniors to play with that helped me get used to high school tennis.

“Last year, I did really well; I was proud of the way that I played. I performed well at conference and got a decent seed at state and I played good at state, but didn’t go very far.”

In order for Thames to stick around for a while at state should he qualify, it may come down to how good he serves.

“I think it (depends on) getting a higher percentage of my first serves in and hitting my second serve at practice this off-season,” Thames said. “I think that’s the biggest part of my game that I’ve improved which will help me go farther.

“Also this year, I think I’ve just had more fun out there and not worried as much about winning and losing, just going out there and trying to get better every day.”

Thames picked up tennis while in grade school, after watching his younger sister (Hailey, now a junior at Southside) taking lessons.

“I saw her playing and one day, I just decided to take a lesson and that’s where it all started and I just kept playing after that,” Thames said.


Along with Thames, No. 2 singles player Kadin Hyatt won on Thursday, 8-3, while No. 3 seed Sean King posted a 6-0 win.

The Grizzlies’ top two doubles teams, Griffin Huckelbury and Sam Carlisle along with Trey Rajsombath and Kevin Praphan, won their matches 8-2 and 8-0, respectively. Bryce Hindley and Will Stites also won their doubles match, 6-1.

On the girls side, the Lady Bears’ No. 1 singles player, junior Kate Files, bounced back from a rare conference loss to post an 8-0 win, moving her record this season to 9-2.

All four Lady Bear singles players picked up wins. Along with Files, No. 2 seed Tiffeny Praphan won 8-5, as did Catherine Hahn (6-4) and Payton Leding (6-0).

Northside got one win in girls doubles, with the team of Mary Alex Cole and Cate Albertson coming from behind to pull out a 9-8 tiebreaker.

“Mary Alex and Cate Albertson were able to battle back by overcoming I think six match points, with Mary Alex showing some really good leadership and resiliency, which is what we need, it’s not over until it’s over,” Martin Hyatt said. “I was also really pleased with Kate Files in respect to how she came back from her loss (last week to a player from Mount St. Mary). ... She’s really good at analyzing what needs to be fixed and works on it.”

Although the Lady Bears’ No. 3 doubles team of Caroline Cravens and Mary-Kate Wewers came up on the short end of a 6-2 outcome, the two seniors have had a solid season and both believe they can make it to their first trip to state.


“That’s the goal this year (to make it to state). ... We just have to keep our cool pretty much,” Cravens said.

“It’s been good; we’ve had some good matches and (Wewers) has been good at volleying and I’m better on the back line, so we work together well.”

The two partners played as teammates at Trinity Junior High before teaming up again at Northside as sophomores. They had different partners as juniors, but Cravens and Wewers reunited prior to their senior year.

“I’m more of the level-headed, keep it together, don’t get as frustrated, so I have to keep her calm, but she has more of the skill,” Wewers said. “She has better shots than I do.

?(When Wewers was in seventh grade) my mom (Michelle Wewers) helped coach (at Trinity), so she made me (take tennis); she set me up with some summer lessons and then I convinced (Cravens) to come with me. When we were out on the court, it was a clinic in Van Buren and we were out there almost every day during that summer.”

And both Cravens and Wewers are hoping to get one final shot at going to state as teammates.

Northside wraps up the conference’s regular season on Tuesday against Southside at Fort Smith Athletic Club.
