Missouri Valley / Missouri

Joplin hosts 32-team interstate high school girls' tennis tournament

David Smale | July 22, 2026

If you’re a fan of high-quality girls’ high school tennis, then Joplin is the place to be in late August.

Joplin High School is hosting the Joplin Interstate Championships, a 32-team tournament held on Aug. 28-29. There will be numerous teams competing from Missouri, a few from Arkansas plus one from Illinois. It’s the fifth year of a tournament that was the brainchild of Ben Coltharp, Joplin High School girls’ and boys’ tennis head coach.

It started as a 16-team tournament, moved to 24 teams for two years and is in its second year with the current 32-team format. When Coltharp increased the number of schools, he also changed the format from six singles matches and three doubles matches per team to the current three singles and two doubles format.

Each team will bring seven players, with three playing singles and the other four making up two doubles teams. Players can swap between singles and doubles in different team matches.

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Strategic Format

There are several good reasons for the format switch. First, the sheer number of teams makes it hard to potentially have nine individual matches to decide the dual. Conversely, if one team is significantly better than another, some players might not get a chance to play when the team wins its five matches.

But the biggest reason is the fact that it happens in August in southern Missouri. The oppressive heat can be draining. If an athlete plays in all three singles matches and all three doubles matches, that could mean as many as six matches in one day.

“That’s a lot, even for high school players,” Coltharp said. “I wanted to narrow it down a little bit and just have three matches for the players in a day. It’s a little more manageable that way.

“It also creates a need for strategy for the coaches. Teams aren’t set with their lineups. It’s really based on the team that you’re playing against.”

The Joplin Interstate Championships features pool play on Aug. 28 with a morning pool and an afternoon pool. Bracket play will take place on Aug. 29. The first-place team in each pool advances to the championship bracket. Second place goes to the challengers 1 bracket, while third place goes to challengers 2 and fourth place goes to the futures bracket.

Matches are played all over Joplin, a community of about 50,000 people. Some of the matches will be at Joplin High School, while others will be at the Joplin Athletic Complex, Millennium Family Fitness and Missouri Southern State University.

Beyond State Lines

It sounds like a lot of coordination, which is why Coltharp likes it.

“I really like organizing things,” said Coltharp, who was named executive director of USTA Missouri earlier this year. “We really like this format, and I think a lot of teams like this format. This tournament gives teams a chance to play schools they normally don’t play. Schools from Arkansas don’t often play schools from Missouri and vice versa. Bigger schools from Kansas City don’t often play smaller schools from southern Missouri.

“They’re essentially playing six matches against people that they usually don’t play. Not only that, but because it’s at the beginning of the season, it’s kind of a good indicator for teams about where they stack up with other teams. I know a lot of teams use it as a chance to try out different doubles lineups as well.”

Certainly, bringing 224 high school tennis players to one city also provides a fertile recruiting ground for college coaches.

“I’d like to think I’ve done a good enough job running it that coaches know if they play in this tournament, it’s going to go somewhat smoothly,” Coltharp said. “Word definitely has gotten around that it’s a good competition.”

It’s definitely the place to be.

Learn more about the Joplin Interstate Championships here. Check out additional USTA Missouri stories here.

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