It was a spring to remember for Swopes and his tennis teams

May 18—Nobody pinch veteran Ada tennis coach Terry Swopes because right now he's living the dream.

A spectacular spring season officially ended Thursday afternoon during a celebration for the Ada High boys tennis team capturing the Class 4A State championship. A week early, a similar ceremony took place to recognize the Ada High girls tennis team for becoming state champions. The Ada High boys track team crashed that state champion party.

The two Ada tennis teams took different routes to their respective state titles.

The Ada girls dominated the regular season, winning championships in 10 of the 12 tournaments they played before having to overcome adversity at the state tournament. Meanwhile, the Ada boys had to repeatedly shuffle their lineups around due to some nagging injuries and sickness before finally getting healthy and breezing through the state tournament.

"We only got to play our regular lineup at four tournaments all season due to various injuries and illnesses. They won all four of those tournaments," Swopes told The Ada News. "Everyone was finally able to get healthy the last two weeks of the season and they put together an amazing performance."

Amazing is just one of the words that could be used to describe the Ada boys' domination at the state tournament. They swept every division without losing a set. That's almost unheard of.

"That has never been done in Ada tennis history and only done a few times in Oklahoma High School tennis history," Swopes said.

The Cougars had already secured the state championship after winning four semifinal matches. Swopes huddled up with his team and told them the good news ... and the celebration did NOT begin.

"We wrapped up the team title after the third round. I talked to the boys and told them they had clinched the team title. There was no celebration. They were not done yet," Swopes said. "I could see it in their eyes that they wanted to sweep, and that is exactly what they did. They saved their best for last."

Halston Redwine won the No. 1 Singles championship. Brady Bacon captured the No. 2 Singles title. Tate Danielson and Jackson Swopes took down the No. 1 Doubles division and Drew Lillard and Anthony Towers captured the gold in No. 2 Doubles.

All six players are seniors.

Postseason awards have already started pouring in. Tate Danielson was named the 2024 Jim Thorpe Tennis Player of the Year. This award is presented to one male and one female tennis player across the state.

"It's for the total tennis player — ability, academics and character. and Tate possesses all three and exceeds that," Swopes said.

Redwine and Jackson Swopes were named to the Oklahoma Coaches Association All-State East tennis team. Redwine was also named the Class 4A Tennis Player of the Year.

"Halston and Jackson have played each other since they were eight years old hanging around on a tennis court. So to see them reach their dream and get All-State after winning a state championship is pretty special," Terry Swopes said. Jackson is the son of Terry Swopes.

"It was the perfect ending for all their careers," said the Ada coach.

Swopes, who started his coaching career at McAlester High School and spent four years as the Buffaloes' head coach (we've already forgiven him for that), has spent the last 19 spring seasons at Ada. He joined extraordinary former Ada coach Skip Griese as an assistant coach for 14 years and has been at the helm of the AHS tennis program for the past five years.

It's been quite a ride for Swopes, watching his teams win state titles on back-to-back Saturdays. How cool was it?

"I'll let you know when I come down," said Swopes, who plans on riding the high of two championship celebrations right into summer tennis camps. "Every year is fun. But when they work their tails off and get to see it pay off it makes it pretty special."

Doubles trouble

It's still amazing to think about Ada's No. 2 Doubles team of Lilly Cadenhead and Jerzie O'Neal having to come back from a set down and trailing 5-2 in the second set to win their final match and secure the state championship for the Lady Cougars.

Swopes said his main message to those girls was to simply have fun out there. They ended up winning 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 in front of a huge crowd that was mostly anti-Ada.

"We had a lot of conversations during that match," Swopes said.

"I just told them to enjoy this moment. It's not very often in high school tennis you get to play in front of that kind of crowd. It usually only happens at state," he continued. "I said to enjoy it, take some deep breaths, hop around, and have fun."

Swopes reminded them to concentrate on one point at a time.

"We talk all season about how you can only win or lose one point at a time, so that's all we focus on. We don't look ahead in matches and we don't worry about who we might play later in tournaments," he explained. "We focus on one point. That's it. So, I just reminded them of that and they responded."

Other members of the Ada girls state champion tennis team included Sadie Epps, Kylee Witt, Jessi Bolin and Zoey Brown.

------o------

Following are the Oklahoma Coaches Association 2024 All-State tennis rosters released earlier this week. The All-State matches are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. July 23 at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Center.

Pauls Valley's Laura Mantooth was named the West coach, while Wagoner's Corey Tipton is set to coach the East.

WEST BOYS

Jackson Bales, Carl Albert; Gray Ferguson, Heritage Hall; Jonathan Eichman, Westmoore; Evan Ivester, Deer Creek; Zander Nelson, Crossings Christian; Carson Ogilbee, Edmond Memorial; Emerson Ritenour, Heritage Hall; Thomas Rudnicki, Casady; Tyler Shaw, Carl Albert; Jackson Strunck, Crossings Christian

EAST BOYS

Vaibhav Aggarwal, Tulsa Bishop Kelley; Jake Bell, Tulsa Riverfield Country Day; William Bolding, Bartlesville; Jacob Cameron, Jenks; Jackson Goodman, Byng; Johnson Hale, Tulsa Riverfield Country Day; Jack Michalcik, Tulsa Metro Christian; Cristian Pensavalle, Jenks; Halston Redwine, Ada; Jackson Swopes, Ada

WEST GIRLS

Sofia Acuña, Classen SAS; Jadyn Brown, Duncan; Leah Edwards, Stillwater; Ava Goodell, Edmond Memorial; Nikelle Horsburgh, Oklahoma Christian School; Ashley Miller, Enid Oklahoma Bible Academy; Rylee Reese, Carl Albert; Victoria Ricaurte-Cabas, Edmond North; Alaina Ropp, Stillwater; Emerson Villagrana, Duncan

EAST GIRLS

Jasel Bailey, Tulsa Bishop Kelley; Kennedy Cox, Tulsa Holland Hall; Natalie Gillett, Tulsa Holland Hall; Carrington Hessen, Jenks; Lydia Hoose, Tulsa Cascia Hall; Ava Jacobsen, Jenks; Avery Jones, Broken Arrow; Harmoni Moore, Byng; Macy Mueller, Bixby; Maureen Sellers, Tulsa Riverfield Country Day