By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – The Chris Cook-coached No. 5 Thatcher Tennis Eagles (5-1 seeding, 8.7053 rating) visit No. 32 Morenci (1-3, minus 4.4707) on Thursday, March 27.
Coming up around the section during the rest of the week (March 27-29) are No. 36 Globe at No. 19 Duncan, No. 4 Willcox at No. 20 Miami, and No. 22 Safford at No. 9 Pima on Thursday, March 27; Willcox at No. 13 Tanque Verde, and Benson, Florence, Globe, Morenci, and Safford are at the 6-team Roberds Miami Invitational on Friday, March 28 while Thatcher will be attending the 2-day, 6-team Queen Creek tourney on March 28-29. Division III No. 5 Thatcher will compete against Division II No. 21 Mesa Eastmark and Division I No. 6 Gilbert Higley, No. 22 Queek Creek, No. 28 Queek Creek Casteel, and No. 32 Yuma Gila Ridge.
On March 25, Duncan won 4-2 over Morenci, Pusch Ridge won 9-0 over Safford, Willcox won 9- 0 at Patagonia, and Pima won 8-1 over Globe. On March 26, Pusch Ridge won 5-4 over Thatcher and Benson at Tombstone.
The third week of the month had Willcox 9-0 over Tombstone on March 18. In week two of March, Pima defeated Duncan 7-2 on March 10; Duncan 5-4 over Benson, Willcox 8-1 over Saint David, and Miami 6-3 over Globe on March 11; Pima 9-0 over Saint Augustine Catholic on March 12; Duncan visits Patagonia, Thatcher visits Tucson Pusch Ridge Christian, and Saint David 9-0 over Benson on Thursday, March 13; and Pima 7-2 over Patagonia on March 14.
Safford’s round robin tourney on March 7 was called off because the court resurfacing was incomplete. It was to be rescheduled. Saint David placed first with 15 points in the 5-team H.T. Clothier Invitational on March 8. Duncan was second (11), Benson third (10), Globe fourth (4), and Tombstone did not score. The Duncan at Patagonia and Willcox at Morenci pairings for March 13 were rescheduled for April 7 and April 21, respectively.
In week one of March, Duncan tied 3-3 with Patagonia on March 3; Thatcher 9-0 over Safford, Willcox 9-0 over Duncan, Miami 9-0 over Apache Junction, and Avondale Saint John Paul II Catholic 9-0 over Morenci on March 4; Thatcher 8-1 over Tucson Sabino on March 5; and Benson 9-0 over Tucson Andrada Polytechnic, Eloy Santa Cruz 7-2 over Globe, and Thatcher 8-1 over Chandler Prep on March 6.
Division III rankings
The Division III rankings for the nine Section I member teams as of noon on March 27 were Willcox (4-0 seeding, minus 9.1402 rating) No. 4, Thatcher (5-1, 8.7053) No. 5, Pima (4-0, 7.4994) No. 9, Duncan (2-2-1, 1.6039) No. 19, Miami (2-1, 1.3895) No. 20, Safford (1-2, 0.2857) No. 22, Benson (1-3, minus 3.0822) No. 31, Morenci (1-3, minus 4.4707) No. 32, and Globe (0-4, minus 6.5291) No. 36.
Division III – Section I standings
The section standings as of March 26 were Thatcher (5-1 seeding, 1-0 section) first, Duncan (2-2-1, 1-0) second, Miami (2-1, 1-0) third, Willcox (4-0, 0-0) fourth, Pima (4-0, 0-0) fifth, Safford (1-2, 0-0) sixth, Benson (1-2, 0-1) seventh, Morenci (1-3, 0-0) eighth, Globe (0-4, 0-2) ninth.
