Hunter Love (pictured) seemed to snap out of his recent funk in singles matches and dominated the #3 singles match for us tonight against a good Falcon opponent. Hunter played smart, consistent tennis to come out with a straight set win and the first team win for the Trojans tonight.
Our doubles team also was real good tonight. Michael Baldwin and Collins Mauldin (pictured at the bottom) controlled the match from beginning to end for a straight set win and our second team win of the night, putting up ahead 2 to zip.
At this point, John Clark was the featured match on the courts. John had dominated a first set and won it 6-1. The second set swayed back and forth and ended up knotted at 6-all and needed a tiebreak to decide it. The set tiebreaker went Nation Ford's way and the match tiebreak did as well to give Nation Ford it's first win.
Drayton Wade played well against a tough #2 opponent from Nation Ford. The score may have been straight sets for the Falcons, but Drayton battled to the end in a match that featured great athleticism and even better sportsmanship.
The attention then shifted to Seth Russell at #1 and Jordan Beaver at #5. Seth had claimed a close first set 7-5 and Jordan had won his first set 6-2. Unfortunately, both dropped second sets by identical 6-4 scores and needed their matches decided in 10-point tiebreakers. Seth grabbed the win at #1 with an 11-9 decision, but unfortunately Jordan suffered his first defeat of the season at line 5 by a 7-10 margin.
Under the lights we went to play #1 doubles to decide the match and the region lead. Seth and Hunter took on Ott and Randar from Nation Ford. The first set was ugly for the Trojans as too many errors were committed and the set dropped 2-6. The second set continued some bad momentum as we trailed 0-3 before making a charge to get a lead at 4-3. It began to seem like another tiebreak was about to take place. However, at this point Nation Ford raised their game and we were unable to match it as we dropped the second set.
All we can do is press forward into more matches to determine our final spot in the region 3-AAAA race. At this point, we need to hope for Nation Ford to drop a match to either Fort Mill or Clover while we beat both those schools in order for us to have a shot at the title. If the boys put the rackets up for spring break, it will be very hard to accomplish. However, if they get out and work over the break while our opponents take time off, we have an opportunity to get back into the region hunt.
Go Trojans!
Location: Northwestern
Result: Nation Ford 4, Northwestern 3
Singles
1- Seth Russell (NW) def Madison Ott 7-5, 4-6, 11-9
2- Danny Randar (NF) def Drayton Wade 6-4, 6-3
3- Hunter Love (NW) def Tyler Morris 6-2, 6-2
4- Brandon McGlohon (NF) def John Clark 1-6, 7-6, 10-8
5- Kyle Lengel (NF) def Jordan Beaver 2-6, 6-4, 10-7
Doubles
1- Ott/Randar (NF) def Russell/Love 6-2, 6-4
2- Michael Baldwin/
Collins Mauldin (NW) def Alex McLelland/Paul Hoberek 6
-1, 6-4Michael Baldwin (left) and Collins Mauldin (right) have been the top doubles team in region 3-AAAA this season.
