Seth Russell took on Lyles from Boiling Springs, a highly ranked player in the state of SC. Seth Fell behind early and dropped the first set 2-6. The two traded games for a while in the second set before Lyles pulled away to take the #1 singles match.
Hunter Love played another highly ranked player in White for the Bulldogs. After the match, White made a point to come tell me that Hunter played really well and he had him frustrated throughout the match as he was unable to win any points easily.
Drayton Wade played a dominant match at #3 singles against J Uy. The first set got lopsided quickly in Drayton's favor and he closed it out 6-2 with little trouble. Drayton continued to roll through the second before J Uy made a late charge to close the gap. Keeping his cool, Drayton closed the set out 6-4 and showed great poise by not getting frustrated by the comeback.
The most exciting match of the night was the battle at # 4 between Johnathan Clark and B Uy. John and B Uy traded games all the way into a set tiebreak which John was able to win 7-4. B Uy was clearly frustrated in the 2nd set and began throwing spin shots, drop shots and other junk balls John's way. It did the trick on him and B Uy took the second set to force a match 10-point tiebreaker. As I usually see when players resort to junk shots, B Uy lost momentum in the tiebreak as John rolled to a decisive 10-3 victory at the 4 singles spot.
Jordan Beaver had a terribly frustrating opponent to deal with in Hendrix for the Bulldogs. Their player didn't hit real hard, didn't serve real hard, and didn't do much to force the match. What he did was not miss very much. Jordan hung in their in two close sets, but came up short in the end.
Our #2 doubles team of Michael Baldwin & Collins Mauldin came on very strong in the end. After an even 1st set that they won 6-4, the duo took off to claim the second by score of 6-1 over Plummer & Morris for Boiling Springs.
We had to call on Seth & Hunter at #1 doubles tonight to go for the team win with the score knotted at 3 all. The Bulldog senior-duo of Lyles & White have played the #1 doubles spot at Boiling Springs for several years now and compete in many off season tournaments together. That experience paid off in the end as they clinched the Bulldogs victory over us. What this makes me hope is that Hunter and Seth work together this off season as they could easily play at the level of Lyles and White with some more experience.
We'll get back to work tomorrow to get ready for our cross town rival South Pointe on Monday and our first region match at Fort Mill on Thursday. Fort Mill is the defending region champion and the team we are looking to take down first in our quest to win Region 3-AAAA this season.
Go Trojans!
Box Score:
Boiling Springs 4, Northwestern 3
1s: Chase Lyles (B) def Seth Russell (N) 6-2, 6-4
2s: Corey White (B) def Hunter Love (N) 6-2, 6-0
3s: Drayton Wade (N) def Johnny Uy (B) 6-2, 6-4
4s: John Clark (N) def Benny Uy (B) 7-6(4) 2-6, 10-3
5s: Dalton Hendrix (B) def Jordan Beaver (N) 6-4, 6-4
1d: Lyles/White (B) def Russell/Love (N) 6-2, 6-1
2d: Michael Baldwin/Collins Mauldin (N) def Matt Plummer/Drew Morris (B) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles tandem of Michael Baldwin (left) and Collins Mauldin.
