In two away matches this week, the Marshall County girl’s tennis team lost 8-1 to Graves County and followed that up with a 5-4 win over St. Mary. Graves County’s boys won 7-2 over the Marshals, then against St. Mary, the match ended in a 3-3 tie.
Monday at Graves County, the girls single win came from Nikki Fehrenbacher 8-3 over Ellie Mitchell and the doubles team of Fehrenbacher and Elizabeth Padgett took their match to a tie-breaker, falling 9-8 (12-10) to Carson McKee and Madison Wiggins.
“Once again I thought our doubles teams played very well today”, Coach Tyler Brockman said. “I think we let one slip away at number one doubles but the happens sometimes. Nikki continues to play very well in singles. She is doing a great job of staying consistent and getting balls back into play. She is having a very good year for us so far.”
The rest of the girl’s matches against Graves County went like this; McKee defeated Padgett 8-2, Laken Shultz defeated Allie Fiske 8-3, Madison Wiggins defeated Kelsey Myers 8-0, Kinsey Roberts defeated Courtney Phillips 8-1, Sam Clymer defeated B.J. Waggoner 8-3, Shultz/Roberts defeated Fiske/Waggoner 8-4, Clymer/Mitchell defeated Myers/Phillips 8-0, Lamb/Rogers defeated Lueke/Phelps 8-0.
The two wins for the boy’s team over Graves County came in singles with Blake Sandlin defeating Logan Johnson 8-5 and the doubles team of Sandlin/Hayden Jaco defeated Ellegood/Johnson 8-6.
The rest of the matches against Graves County; Jaron Hale defeated Alex Chapman 8-2, Isaac Carrico defeated Jaco 9-8 (8-6), Brady Ellegood defeated Kaleb Willie 8-1, John Adams defeated Charlie Reid 7-0 (retired), Jacob Govea defeated Tucker Lovett 8-3, Hale/Carrico defeated Chapman/Willie 8-3, Adams/Govea defeated Reid/Lovett 8-2.
“We had some close matches today that could have gone either way”, Brockman said. “Hayden’s match was a real heartbreaker because he had a chance to win the match on his serve a few times and just couldn’t quite pull it out. I’m very proud of Blake for the way he continues to improve. He is getting better every day at practice and it is starting to show in the matches as he is having more success.”
In their 5-4 win over St. Mary on Tuesday, the girls picked up wins in three singles matches. Fehrenbacher defeated Madeline Lorch 8-3, Fiske defeated Olivia Ellison 9-7 (7-5), and B.J. Waggoner defeated Georgia Eck 8-6. Two of their wins came in doubles play with the team of Padgett/Fehrenbacher defeating Meredith/Lorch 8-6 and Fiske/Abbey Harrington defeated Waltmon/Ellison 8-6.
In other matches, Emily Meredith defeated Padgett 8-4, Maddy Waltmon defeated Harrington 8-3, Kaitlin Hrdlicka defeated Kelsey Myers 8-0 and Eck/Hrdlicka defeated Sydney Smith/Alec Jones.
“I’m very proud of these girls for the way they came back to win the team match”, Brockman said. “We got great contributions from everyone in the lineup, but especially from Abbey and Allie in the number two doubles match. They came back from being down early in the match to win and seal the victory for us.”
The boy’s team played to a 3-3 tie against St. Mary getting wins from Jaco 8-5 over Flynn Mudd, Sandlin 9-7 over Tim Froehlich and Dalton Riley 8-1 over Antonio Barraza.
In the other three matches, Alex Chapman lost 8-2 to Caden Tillett, Chapman/Willie lost 8-2 to Tillett/Mudd and Reid/Miller lost 8-1 to Froehlich/Barraza.
“We played much better in singles”, Brockman said. “I was really happy with the way Hayden and Blake came back to win their matches after being down early. I was also glad to see Dalton come back out and have success in his first match of the year. He will be a nice addition for us as the season continues and could definitely work his way up in the seeding if he continues to improve.”
Weather could interrupt their home match Thursday against Calloway County. The team will be back in competition after Spring Break on Monday, April 11th at home against Paducah Tilghman.