Bulldogs “Futures” Win the Lebanon JV Tournament

RoMoAthletics
Apr 23
2 min read

The Futures win the Lebanon JV Tennis Tourney

April 22nd, 2026

With a tennis program that has been on the rise in both results and number of athletes, the Rolla Bulldogs have had to split practices to make sure everyone is getting opportunities to develop.

With almost 40 tennis players on the roster, finding matches can be challenging. The “Futures” is the title bestowed on Junior Varsity players as a reminder that they are the future of the program.

Those Futures had their opportunity on Wednesday at the Lebanon JV tournament and they showed their potential and worth.

Each tournament format can be a little different. The Lebanon JV tournament used a "Race to 6" format for both singles and doubles. In this format, the first single player or doubles team to get to 6 wins. It is a no-ad situation meaning there is no win by two. However, if a match is tied at 5, then the last game to break the tie (to get to 6) is WITH Ad.

Competing Throughout the Day

It’s all about match-ups. That’s true in all sports, but especially in matched play approaches of tennis where players are ranked on their team and then play those of the same ranking status.

For the Futures, the Dubs 2 team of Owen Black and Vincent “Cosmo” Conger went 3-0 on the day along with Dubs 3, Elliot Ratchford and Henry Davis.

Singles #1 Loyal Davis had himself a day winning all 3 of matches by a total of 16-8. Conger, playing as the #5, also won his three matches.

Coach Josh Vinyard was extremely happy with the performance of the Futures. “They have been steadily improving all year and played a long day of tennis yesterday at Bolivar. To get up early and play well again today in back to back tournaments showed their toughness.”

With a varsity team sitting at 16-1 on the season, it can be challenging for the next group to wait their turn. But the Futures understand what it means to be part of a program.

“I am excited for them, and I hope this helps motivate them to continue to improve over the summer and put themselves in a position to compete at a higher level on the varsity next year,” said Vinyard.