Barnes, Justice win sectional doubles; Ford advances

PORTSMOUTH — The old Doublemint gum commercial would sing, “Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun.”

For the Ironton Fighting Tigers Judah Barnes and Payton Justice, they not only doubled their pleasure and doubled their fun, but they won the sectional doubles championship and now double their tournament time with a trip to the district.

The Ironton duo will be joined by teammate Eli Ford who finished fifth in the sectional and earned a berth in the district. The top 8 players qualify and are seeded according to how they finished in the sectional tournament.

Ironton's Judah Barnes and Payton Justice

Barnes and Justice will play doubles and Ford singles in district on Wednesday at Ohio University’s Tennis Center in Athens.

Barnes and Justice opened with a 7-5 5-7, 6-3 win over Arledge and Higgenbotham of Logan Elm.

Next came a straight sets win over Hanes and Thornsberry of Unioto, 6-4, 6-3 which put them in the finals where they took identical wins of 6-3, 6-3, to beat Lewis and Thomas of Unioto and earned the sectional title and a berth in the district.

Lewis and Thomas finished second with Hanes and thorns berry third, Walsh and Carroll of Waverly fourth, Arledge and Higginbotham fifth, Upthegrove and Rader of Washington Court House sixth, Vasquez and Seimetz seventh while Guantam and Erdelyi of Marietta were eight.

In singles play at Shawnee State University, Ironton’s Eli Ford finished fifth overall in the field.

Ford opened with a win over Grey Braun of Logan Elm and then beat Bryce Derringer of Unioto to reach the bracket finals only to lose to Carson Nibert of Waverly.

Ford then beat Caden Nibert of Waverly 6-3, 6-4 only to fall 6-1, 6-1 to eventual single champion Landon Smith of Jackson.

Ford beat Cyrill Palaganas of Marietta   6-3, 6-1  to take fifth place.

After Smith, Navarro Steffen of Marietta was second, Carson Nibert of Waverly third. Caden Nibert of Waverly fourth followed by Ford.

Bret Bowman beat Ford Swords of Portsmouth Clay and then downed Allison Crank of Minford before falling to Landon Smith of Jackson who won the bracket and played in the finals.