Both Warrior tennis teams excelled in their match against the Van Buren Eagles on Tuesday, April 26th at home on Warrior courts.
Women's notes: At the #1 seed, Powers got off to a little bit of a slow start in the first two games, but soon warmed up using her superior footspeed and agility to set up shots for her biggest weapon of the day, her inside-out forehand to her opponent's backhand. She cruised through the remainder of the match. At #2, Kate Frasier had no problem dispatching her opponent controlling the match with superior consistency on serves and groundstrokes. Normally playing as a #4 seed, Lilly Colwell played a singles exhibition against the #2 of Van Buren and secured a very solid performance with improved court coverage. The #1 women's doubles match of the day generated excitement as White County's #3 & #5 seeds played against Van Buren's #1 & #2. Up till the 6-5 game score, it looked like Van Buren might keep the edge being up one break. Yet in the 12th game, Swindell hit three forehand lobs on three successive points followed by a forehand net volley by Stone to break the momentum of the Eagles and level at 6-ALL. Swindell/Stone kept the slight edge the remainder of the match to take the score to 8-ALL setting up the 7-point tiebreaker. Consistent serves and several solid volleys gave Swindell/Stone their first tiebreak win of the season. Overall, the women of White County won 3-0 in official match scores.
Men's notes: The hottest contested match of the day for the men was at the #1 seed. Previously, on March 17th, Goff of Van Buren beat Wiles of White County in a tiebreaker 8-6. This time, Gabriel Wiles prevailed 7-5 in the tiebreaker. Wiles showed mental fortitude in securing this win. He had match point at 7-6 constructing a deuce point according to plan when he framed an overhead at the net, giving the game to Goff to tie at 7-7. Goff won the next game to go up 8-7, but Wiles held a solid service game to break the momentum and tie at 8-8. Wiles kept the slight edge in the tiebreak and finished the match exactly the way he wanted, hitting deep to his opponent's backhand before following for an overhead winner at the net. As a testament to the tremendous improvement White County has had this season, Max Simmons (Warriors) performed a major upset against Cade Simmons (Eagles). In their previous meeting on 3/17, Cade Simmons won easily 8-1. This time, on home court, Max Simmons would get his revenge taking the match 8-6, showing off a little more heat on his first serves and better court mobility including more aggressive net play. At #3, Giorgini beat Scarborough 8-3, bettering his previous match on 3/17 where Valentin won 8-4. An improved consistency with his backhand combined with a stronger slice serve gave Giorgini the continued edge. At #4, Noah Gately easily handled an opponent he had not faced before in Bleasdale. As Gately continued to work on better service angles and net play on return games, he quickly ran away with the match. The Warriors #5, AJ Spedding, showed off his improvement in a 4-8 exhibition loss against the #2 of VBHS, Cade Simmons. AJ was taking notes from Nia Powers as he used quick footspeed to set up his forehand after he was at a 1-5 mid-match score. As he settled down on serves and improved his court positioning, AJ performed well in taking a few games back against the more experienced player. The men's doubles followed similar to the singles, with White County holding a steady lead of both matches. Both Wiles/Simmons and Giorgini/Gately enjoyed a lot of net activity with the fast and furious hands of the Warriors winning in the end.
Overall, it was a great day to be a Warrior as this young team continues to show strong improvement. Next up is a home match against Cookeville on 4/27.
WOMEN'S SCORES - White County High School wins 3-0
Singles
Nia Powers vs. Mackenna Hillis - 8-1 (WCHS win)
Kate Frasier vs. Lily Gavin - 8-0 (WCHS win)
(Exhibition) Lilly Colwell vs Lily Gavin - 8-3 (WCHS win)
Doubles
Marian Swindell/Brianna Stone vs. Mackenna Hillis/Lily Gavin - 9-8 (7-4 in tiebreaker) (WCHS win)
MEN'S SCORES - White County High School wins 6-0
Singles
Gabriel Wiles vs. Nick Goff - 9-8 (7-5 in tiebreaker) (WCHS win)
Max Simmons vs. Cade Simmons - 8-6 (WCHS win)
Valentin Giorgini vs. Kaston Scarborough - 8-3 (WCHS win)
Noah Gately vs. Patrick Bleasdale - 8-1 (WCHS win)
(Exhibition) AJ Spedding vs. Cade Simmons - 4-8 (VBHS win)
Doubles
G. Wiles/M. Simmons vs. N. Goff/C. Simmons - 8-5 (WCHS win)
V. Giorgini/N. Gately vs. K. Scarborough/P. Bleasdale - 8-3 (WCHS win)
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