Trojan/Stallion Invitational Day 2

Although we had about the most ideal playing weather this morning in our matchup with Fort Mill, the day started out a little dissapointing for the Trojans against our region rival. The loss to Fort Mill & subsequent victory over York in the 3rd place match gives us an overall record of 5-1 and a 2-1 mark in region 3-AAAA.

We'll get back after it on Monday and Wednesday in practice. After a 5 match week over 6 days, we're only going to practice Monday & Wednesday and play our match at York on Tuesday. The majority of our team will be at Model UN on Thursday & Friday trying to bring back the title from...Fort Mill :(

Tournament Box Scores:

Result: Fort Mill 4, Northwestern 2
Singles
1: Tyler Davis def Seth Russell 3-6, 6-3, 10-3
2: Chase Lovins def Hunter Love 6-2, 6-2
3: Andres Leon def Drayton Wade 6-1, 6-0
4: John Clark (N) def Nick DiMatteo 6-1, 6-3
5: Jordan Beaver (N) def Grant Jordan 6-1, 6-0
Doubles
1: DP
2: Alex Masters/Clay Bullard def Michael Baldwin/Chris Cassidy 2-6, 7-5, 10-7

Third Place Match
Result: Northwestern 7, York 0
Singles
1: Seth Russell def Jensen Fisk 6-1, 6-0
2: Hunter Love def Kyle Spears 6-0, 6-1
3: Drayton Wade def Nathan Patrick 6-1, 6-1
4: John Clark def Andrew Stowe 6-1, 6-1
5: Jordan Beaver def Charles Womble 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
1: Chris Cassidy/Michael Baldwin def Patrick/Stowe 8-7(1)
2: Tyler Leonard/Daniel Hawkins def Patrick Newberry/Terry Duan 6-0, 6-0

Championship
Result: Fort Mill 6, Westside 0
Singles
1: Tyler Davis def Stephen Patterson 7-5, 6-1
2: Chase Lovins def Brooks Ballantine 6-2, 6-0
3: Andres Leon def Blake Peoples 6-0, 6-1
4: Nick DiMatteo def Bryce Rosenbaum 4-6, 6-3, 10-8
5: Grant Jordan def Brandon Lowe 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
1: DNP
2: Alex Masters/Cory Huckaby def Cylan Brissey/Chris Joseph 8-2

Tournament MVP: Tyler Davis, Fort Mill #1 Singles
Tournament Sportsmanship Award: Kyle Spears, York #2 Singles

Tournament Records:
Fort Mill 3-0
Westside 2-1
Northwestern 2-1
York 1-2
Byrnes 1-2
South Pointe 0-3

Champion: Fort Mill
Runner Up: Westside

Jordan Beaver returns a shot during the Trojan/Stallion Invitational. Jordan is undefeated at line 5 singles this season for the Trojans.

Trojan / Stallion Invitational Day 1

We took care of business this afternoon in our first match with a 5 to 1 decision over Byrnes. We'll face Fort Mill in the 2nd match for us tomorrow morning at 9AM. That match will count towards both the region 3-AAAA standings as well as the tournament. The winner of that match will play for the championship at 2PM & the loser will play for 3rd place. South Pointe & Byrnes will face off for 5th place at 2PM over at South Pointe.

Here are today's summaries of all matches:

Friday's results from Northwestern & South Pointe:

Location: South Pointe
Result: York 6, South Pointe 1
Singles
1: Jesnsen Fisk def Ian Sanford 6-4, 5-7, 10-8
2: Kyle Spears def Lukas Faris 6-0, 7-5
3: Nathan Patrick def Jonathan Hoover 1-6, 6-2, 10-3
4: Andrew Stowe def Preston Darby 6-4, 6-7, 10-8
5: Charles Womble def Cody Deyton 6-4, 6-7, 10-8
Doubles
1: Fisk/Patrick def Sanford/Lukas 8-2
2: Conner McCoy/Cody Deyton (S) def Patrick Newberry/Terry Doan 8-0

Location: South Pointe
Result: Westside 6, South Pointe 0
Singles
1: Stephen Patterson def Ian Sanford 6-0, 6-0
2: Brooks Ballentine def Lukas Faris 6-1, 6-2
3: Blake Peebles def Conner McCoy 6-1, 6-0
4: Bryce Rosenbaum def Jonathan Hoover 6-4, 6-4
5: Brandon Lowe def Preston Darby 3-6, 6-2, 10-3
Doubles
2: Cylan Brissey/Chris Joseph def Conner McCoy/Cody Deyton 8-5

Location: Northwestern
Result: Northwestern 5, Byrnes 1
Singles
1: Seth Russell def Rob Barber 6-0, 6-0
2: Jacob Chesney (B) def Hunter Love 3-6, 7-6, 10-7
3: Drayton Wade def Austin Green 6-0, 6-2
4: John Clark def Will Fortner 6-1, 6-1
5: Jordan Beaver def Markevis Kinard 6-3, 6-1
Doubles
2: Michael Baldwin/Chris Cassidy def Joey Wilson/Lewis Rast 7-5, 6-3

Location: Northwestern
Result: Fort Mill 4, Byrnes 3
Singles
1: Tyler Davis def Rob Barber 6-3, 6-3
2: Jacob Chesney (B) def Chase Lovins 6-1, 5-7, 10-8
3: Andres Leon def Austin Green 6-0, 6-0
4: Nick DiMatteo def Lewis Rast 6-3, 6-0
5: Markevis Kinard (B) def Grant Jordan 7-5, 6-2
Doubles
1: Barber/Chesney (B) def Davis/Lovins 8-6
2: Alex Masters/Cory Huckaby def Will Fortner/Joey Wilson 7-6, 4-6, 10-8

L to R: Collins, Betsy, Seth, Hunter, Jordan, John, Tyler, Michael, Chris, Ben B, Wesley, Key, Drayton, & Brian

Trojans Down Clover

What a match that played out tonight at the Northwestern tennis courts tonight between the Trojans and the Eagles from Clover. It was another match that played out to the very end with multiple matches ending in match tiebreakers ended with another team win for the Trojans tonight. The win puts us at 3-0 overall and gives us a 2-0 mark in region 3-AAAA and the early first place position to ourselves.

Jordan Beaver played near flawless tennis tonight at 5 singles. He controlled the match from beginning to end against P Smith for the Eagles and was the first win for us tonight with a shut out score of 6-0, 6-0.

Seth Russell sent a statement to the entire region tonight with his performance tonight at 1 singles that he is the top player in the region this year. Decker from Clover had no answer for Seth's precision and power in the match and he claimed our second win by score of 6-1, 6-1 at the top spot.

The next match to finish was our 2 doubles team of Michael Baldwin and Chris Cassidy. The Eagles paired up last year's region player of the year, Altieri, with G Smith. Altieri is recovering from some shoulder problems that affect his ability to serve. However, he still plays terrific tennis with groundstrokes & net play and was too good for us tonight. The line dropped for us by score of 2-6, 2-6, but it is nothing for us to hang our heads about. The fact that Altieri played down in their lineup (which is completely legal how Clover did it) ended up working in our favor in the singles lines.

After these three matches finished we were ahead in the team match count 2 to 1. Hunter Love and Drayton Wade had claimed first sets at 2 and 3 singles by identical 6-2 margins. John Clark had dropped a long and tightly contested first set 6-4. I liked our chances at this point, but I was still nervous as all three matches were having close fought second sets.

John was able to win his second set 6-2, while Hunter and Drayton each dropped theirs. All three went into tiebreakers at nearly the same time. The first to finish was Hunter which unfortunately did not go in our favor and the match was now knotted 2 all. John was able to win his tiebreak for the line 4 win to push us back ahead 3 to 2. And then there was only Drayton left on the court.

The first two changeovers in the line 3 tiebreak were fairly tight, but Drayton trailed 5-7 at this point. Deahl of Clover looked to take control as the momentum swayed his way and he had two match points against Drayton as the score went against us 7-9. From there on out, it was all D-Wade. He won the next four points to give himself the win at line 3 and the Trojans the match.

We posted a shutout against the varsity reserves from Clover. Collins Mauldin won 8-3, Tyler Leonard 8-2, and Daniel Hawkins 8-0. Unfortunately, Clover only had ten players and we took forfeit wins for Key Barkley and Wesley Matthews.

We don't have time to rest much after this exciting match tonight. Byrnes will be at our courts for the first round matchup in the Trojan/Stallion Invitational tomorrow at 2PM. We then play Fort Mill Saturday morning at 9AM for our last round robin match to determine whether we play for 1st, 3rd, or 5th place in the 2PM Saturday final round. I know the boys are hungry to play for 1st, as am I.

Go Trojans!

Location: Northwestern
Result: Northwestern 4, Clover 2

1s: Seth Russell (N) def Will Decker 6-1, 6-1
2s: Tucker DeLoach (C) def Hunter Love 2-6, 6-3, 10-4
3s: Drayton Wade (N) def Nick Deahl 6-2, 5-7, 11-9
4s: John Clark (N) def JC Dougherty 4-6, 6-2, 10-6
5s: Jordan Beaver (N) def Patrick Smith 6-0, 6-0

1d: DNP
2d: Chase Altieri/Garrett Smith (C) def Michael Baldwin/Chris Cassidy 6-2, 6-2

Records: Northwestern 3-0, 2-0 Region 3AAAA, Clover 2-1, 1-1 Region 3AAAA

Trojans Win First Region Match over Nation Ford

We traveled up I77 to tangle with the Falcons of Nation Ford, a team that took both matches off of us last year and finished a spot ahead of us in the region standings. We showed up to play from the top to bottom of the lineup & claimed 3 straight set wins as well as a win in third set tiebreak to take the match.

Seth Russell played as well as he has all season at 1 singles against Ott of Nation Ford. The first set was slanted heavily in Seth's favor and was closed out quickly. The second set played pretty even until Seth lead at 4-3 & closed out the match with two straight games for our first line win of the night.

John Clark was next to clear the courts and was also victorious at 4 singles to give us a 2-0 lead in the team match. John went up early in the first set and had to fight off a late charge from McGlohon for the Falcons. The second set started even and John pulled away with it at the end for a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Jordan Beaver was the next to finish at 5 singles. Jordan's match with Lengel from Nation Ford had a lot of lengthy rallies that Jordan was able to come out on top of more often than not. The match score was 6-3, 6-3 in our favor and we now lead 3-0 in the team match.

At this point, we had two matches go into match tiebreakers at nearly the same time and another in a long second set. Drayton Wade had won a first set 6-3 over Morris of Nation Ford, but dropped a second set by the same score. Our 2 doubles team of Collins Mauldin and Michael Baldwin had won the first set 6-4 before falling behind early in the second set. They were able to come back and closed the gap in the second, but dropped it 5-7 to McLelland & Hoberek for the Falcons.

Also still in action was the marathon match of the night with Hunter Love at 2 singles against Randar for Nation Ford. Hunter had played a long first set that he claimed 7-5 before falling behind early in the second.

The doubles match finished first and Michael and Collins were able to clinch the team match with our 4th win of the night. They went up early in the tiebreaker and never looked back as they closed it out 10-3.

Drayton finished next, followed by Hunter and they each dropped tiebreakers that would have been icing on the cake for our team tonight. Neither can say that they had a bad loss as they performed well against respectable opponents. I know that each will be eager for a rematch on April 1st.

We ran the table in reserve matches as we had doubles wins by Chris Cassidy & Tyler Leonard as well as Key Barkley & Wesley Matthews. Daniel Hawkins was also victorious in singles.

Our next opponent will be another battle on Thursday night as we host the first of 4 straight matches at our courts. Clover is first to come to us on Thursday and will surely be a good test to see where we stand in our region. Getting off to a 2-0 region start would be a big step toward reaching our goal of a region title this season.

Go Trojans!

Box Score:

Location: Nation Ford
Result: Northwestern 5, Nation Ford 2

1s: Seth Russell (NW) def Madison Ott (NF) 6-2, 6-3
2s: Danny Randar (NF) def Hunter Love (NW) 5-7, 6-3, 10-6
3s: Tyler Morris (NF) def Drayton Wade (NW) 3-6, 6-3, 10-4
4s: John Clark (NW) def Brandon McGlohon (NF) 6-4, 6-3
5s: Jordan Beaver (NW) def Kyle Lengel (NF) 6-3, 6-3

1d: Russell/Love (NW) def Ott/Randar (NF) 8-6
2d: Michael Baldwin/Collins Mauldin (NW) def ALex McLelland/Paul Hoberek (NF) 6-4, 5-7, 10-3