Rock Hill stops Trojans

We took the 15 minute cross town trip to take on our rival Rock Hill tonight. The result was a 2-4 defeat that could have gone either way due to a couple late comebacks from the middle of our lineup. Our overall record now stands at 5-6 and we are still 3-5 in our region.

We took an early 1-0 lead on the scoreboard with a dominant win from our doubles team of Hunter Love & Duncan Foy. The first set was a whitewash by our side. The second set was closer, but the match was never in doubt as we claimed the doubles line 6-0, 6-3.

Shortly thereafter, Rock Hill tied the score at 1-1 with a win at 5 singles. Tyler Leonard stepped in to fill in a void at 5 singles left by Alex being out of town and Jordan still being a little jet-lagged from the Hawaii trip. Tyler hung tough in the first set and dropped it 3-6. Unfortunately, Tyler's game got a little shaky at the same time Rock Hill's #5 got hot and the line dropped 3-6, 1-6.

We then fell behind 1-2 after the 2 singles match was decided. The first set had just about every game go to a deuce point, but not enough fell in our favor as Drayton Wade dropped the first set 1-6. Drayton continued to play well and claimed 2 games in the second set before the match was decided in Rock Hill's favor.

We were then able to tie it up at 2-2 courtesy of a huge comeback win from Seth Russell at 1 singles. The first set went to Rock Hill 3-6, but Seth kept battling and hitting beautiful shots to keep Rock Hill's top player on the defensive. Seth won the second set 6-1 and forced a 10-point match tiebreaker. The two players battled back and forth until Seth claimed a 7-5 lead at the second changeover. Rock Hill's player faced 2 match points from Seth, but only defended 1 as Seth won the tiebreak 10-8 to bring us back to even.

Still on the court at this point were Brian Fitzpatrick at 3 singles and Jonathan Clark at 4 singles.

Brian had dropped his first set 2-6 and was trailing 2-5. Brian went on a run to bring the score to 6-6 and force a set 7-point tiebreak. Unfortunately, Rock Hill's #3 played some great tennis to claim the line from us. Regardless, it was awesome to see Brian put the pressure on his opponent and himself in a position to win the line.

Jonathan started the match at 4 singles with a little inconsistency and fell behind by a wide margin early. He won some games late to make the set competitive, but dropped set 1 4-6. He then picked things up in the second and battled hard against a very steady player to win the second set 7-5. On to another tiebreaker we went with all eyes on court 4. Rock Hill's player really cleaned up his game and played well in the tiebreak. It was a shame that a match with so many 15-20 shot rallies ended with a short rally and shot into the net as Jonathan dropped the set tiebreak 5-10.

There's nothing we can do but press on with the rest of our season. We need a victory tomorrow over Gaffney to claim a spot in the playoffs. We then get a rematch with Rock Hill next Monday before a really big match at Nation Ford Tuesday night where we could claim 3rd place with a win.

Go Trojans!

Box Score:
Result: Rock Hill 4, Northwestern 2
Location: Rock Hill HS

1s: Seth Russell (N) def Alik MacLauchlin 3-6, 6-1, 10-8
2s: Austin Lee (R) def Drayton Wade 6-1, 6-2
3s: Kevin Gauldin (R) def Brian Fitzpatrick 6-2, 7-6
4s: Alex Silverman (R) def Jonathan Clark 6-4, 5-7, 10-5
5s: Nick Cauthen (R) def Tyler Leonard 6-3, 6-1

1d: DNP
2d: Hunter Love/Duncan Foy (N) def Cory Tretsky/Michael Adams 6-0, 6-3

Fort Mill defeats Trojans

We took on Fort Mill tonight on our home courts on a windy day. Winds gusted around 20-25 mph all night and played havoc on both teams. We lost 5-1 overall, but had close calls at 1 singles and 2 doubles tonight. With the loss, we drop to 5-5 overall and are at 3-5 in our region matches.

Seth Russell played some brilliant tennis tonight. In a match that featured a lot of hard hitting and constant lead changes, Seth dropped a close one 5-7, 6-7.

Drayton Wade played well at number 2 tonight. Regardless of the 1-6, 2-6 defeat, Drayton hung tough on every point of the match and made his opponent work hard to beat him.

Brian Fitzpatrick hit the ball as well as he has all season tonight. It was impressive given the conditions and I was proud of how far Brian has brought his game this year. Despite the 1-6, 1-6 defeat, Brian can hold his head high knowing that he will only improve the rest of this year and over the next two seasons.

Our line victory came courtesy of Jonathan Clark at 4 singles. The first set of this match was tight and Jonathan eeked it out 6-4. Jonathan caught fire at the end of the first set and rolled into the second set jumping out to an early 3-0 lead. He held strong to close out the set 6-2. Jonathan, thank you - you are my first boys player to take a line from Fort Mill.

Alex Antezana struggled in the winds against a talented line 5 player. He was able to take a game in the first set, but had difficulties finishing in the second.

I really liked our chances tonight at 2 doubles. Fort Mills team is more seasoned and plays a prettier game than Duncan Foy and Hunter Love. I really felt that our team's spins and foot speed would be enough to claim this line. In the end, Fort Mill was too much and took a close one 6-4, 6-4.

This match is over now and we have a match against our in town rival Rock Hill tomorrow. Rock Hill was able to take 1 & 2 singles from Fort Mill yesterday in a 2-5 loss. We have the guns to beat Rock Hill. If we play our game and are determined to take city bragging rights, we will do just that. Lets beat those Bearcats!

Go Trojans!

Box Score:

Result: Fort Mill 5, Northwestern 1
Location: Northwestern HS

1s: Robby Davis (F) def Seth Russell 7-5, 7-6(4)
2s: Kyle Orsburn (F) def Drayton Wade 6-2, 6-1
3s: Daniel Proctor (F) def Brian Fitzpatrick 6-1, 6-1
4s: Jonathan Clark (N) def Chase Lovins 6-4, 6-2
5s: Andreas Leon (F) def Alex Antezana 6-1, 6-0

1d: DNP
2d: Jon Ernst/Chase Riddle (F) def Duncan Foy/Hunter Love 6-4, 6-4

Spring Break Tennis in Rock Hill

There are many tennis options in Rock Hill over the spring break week of April 13 - April 19. Whether you want to practice, compete, or watch tennis there is a choice for you.

1) The Rock Hill Tennis Center is having a high school special during the week. An hour and a half clinic is happening Monday through Friday for $15 per session or $50 for the whole week. Commitments from Fort Mill, Nation Ford, Rock Hill, and other schools have already happened. Call the Tennis Center for more details at 803-326-3841.

2) The Come-see-me Festival will once again feature an adult and junior tennis tournament the weekend of April 17-19. It is a SC Level 3 tournament that will feature some of the top players from the state. Find out more at http://www.usta.com/TennisLink/Default.aspx

3) Winthrop University will be hosting the Big South Tennis Championships the same weekend, April 16-18th. The men's side features defending champion Radford who has been nationally ranked as high as #61 this year. The women's favorite will be our Winthrop Eagles who have been ranked as high as #73. Neither team will have a cake walk to the automatic NCAA bid as the conference competition has been terrific this year. Find out more at: http://www.bigsouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4800&KEY=&ATCLID=3698940

Go Trojans!

Trojans Come up With Region Win vs. York

We traveled to western York county to take on the Cougars from York Comprehensive High School tonight. The Trojans were successful at all lines tonight as they came away with a 7-0 victory. The team is now 5-4 overall and 3-4 in region 3-AAAA.

Our first victory of the night came courtesy of Jonathan Clark at 5 singles. Leading 6-0, 5-0 Jonathan's opponent was holding his wrist and trying hard to keep continuing. After consulting with their coach, it was clear that the player should not continue and the line was defaulted to Jonathan via injury. Regardless, Jonathan played excellent tonight and deserved the win.

Our second victory came from Brian Fitzpatrick at 4 singles. The first set played fairly even with Brian winning it 6-3. The second set was all Trojans as Brian picked his game up a notch and blew his opponent off the court with a 6-0 second set.

The third line of the night was claimed by Drayton Wade. New shoes, different racket, whatever. Drayton lead from beginning to end and never allowed his opponent a chance to sniff a comeback as he closed out the win 6-1, 6-1 at 2 singles.

Our clinching line of the night came from Hunter Love playing at 3 singles. Hunter dominated action the first set 6-1 and was rolling in the second as he lead 5-0. The York opponent began to play more free-spirited and closed the gap to 5-4 before Hunter eventually won the second set 7-5.

The feature match at 1 singles had Seth Russell playing for the Trojans. Seth struggled to consistantly place his shots in the first set and fell behind 0-4 early. All the credit goes to Seth for turning the match in his favor, catching back up in the set and claiming the set in a tiebreak. Seth maintained the momentum against a frustrated York opponent and closed out the match with a 6-3 second set. It was a clutch comeback and earns Seth the game ball for the match.

Our sixth win was at the 2 doubles line with Jordan Beaver and Duncan Foy teaming up for the Trojans. The bounces went our way in the first set and the boys claimed the first set 6-4. I came back to the match as the boys clung to a narrow 3-2 lead. The match seemed lethargic and slow and I encouraged the boys to simply speed up the pace of play as it seemed they were letting York control the way things were happening. They did so to perfection and won the next three games for a 6-2 second set win.

Drayton and Seth again teamed at 1 doubles for a proset match. They lead early and held to it for the end. The match featured some great shots from both sides of the net and from all four players. The Trojan team was successful in the end with an 8-5 decision.

Reserve action featured teams of Alex Antezana & Tyler Leonard, Clollins Mauldin & Key Barkley, Jonathan Patton & Ahmad Sheffield, Ben Leopard & Tyler Hutson, and Jacob Page & Caleb Guyton. Each team won a decisive proset victory and several boys played singles matches as well. It was another strong showing for the Trojan reserves.

We will be off tomorrow as there are too many absences to have a successful practice. The next practice is Monday after spring break, April 20th. We have three matches that week including two region matches and a non-region match at Rock Hill High. I will announce lineups at the end of practice on Monday April 20th.

Go Trojans!

Box Score:

Location: York Comprehensive HS
Result: Northwestern 7, York 0

1s: Seth Russell def Chris Suggs 7-6, 6-3
2s: Drayton Wade def Jensen Fisk 6-1, 6-1
3s: Hunter Love def Kyle Spears 6-1, 7-5
4s: Brian Fitzpatrick def Nathan Patrick 6-3, 6-0
5s: Jonathan Clark def Adam Thomas 6-0, 5-0 retired

1d: Russell/Wade def Suggs/Fisk 8-5
2d: Jordan Beaver/Duncan Foy def Patrick Burnett/Charley Lawson 6-4, 6-2

Clover Too Much for Trojans on a Windy Night

The boys took on Clover in a game of tornado tennis this evening. Winds that gusted up to 25mph created some interesting points in the match. Clover was too much in the end as we dropped a 0-7 decision. The loss drops us to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in our region. We are in 4th place out of the six schools with Fort Mill in 1st, Clover in 2nd, Nation Ford in 3rd, us in 4th, York in 5th, and Gaffney in 6th.

We had a great effort tonight at 1 doubles. Seth Russell and Drayton Wade hung with the #1 & #3 from Clover all the way into a tiebreaker. The bounces didn't go our way in the end as Clover held on for the win 8-7.

Alex Antezana played a strong match at 5 singles tonight. After a close first set was dropped 6-4, Alex displayed some nifty drop shots against Clover's #5 to make some great passes and claim the second set in a tiebreak. The decisive 3rd set tiebreak had Alex leading 7-5 at the second changeover. Unfortunately, Clover got hot and won 5 of the next 6 points to claim line 5.

Clover only had 8 players tonight so there was only one reserve match. Duncan Foy proved victorious in a tiebreak proset over his Clover opponent. Our reserve matches remain a positive thing for us to build upon as a team. We have claimed victories against every school we played this year.

We'll practice tomorrow at 4 in preparation of our road match Thursday to York High. This is an important match as York is much improved and we are leading them by only 1 region match. We'll take a larger than normal travel squad Thursday and I'll notify the team tomorrow of their travel status.

Go Trojans!

Box Score:

Location: Northwestern
Result: Clover 7, Northwestern 0

1s: Chase Altieri def Seth Russell 6-1, 6-2
2s: Nick Deahl def Drayton Wade 6-2, 6-2
3s: Will Decker def Brian Fitzpatrick 6-0, 6-0
4s: Kenneth Long def Hunter Love 6-0, 6-0
5s: Josh Watts def Alex Antezana 6-4, 6-7(5) 10-8

1d: Altieri/Decker def Russell/Wade 8-7 (4)
2d: Dylan Waggonseller/JC Dougherty def Jordan Beaver/Jonathan Clark 6-3, 6-2

Trojans Drop Region Match to 8th ranked Fort Mill

We traveled up US-21 to take on region power Fort Mill tonight. Our scores do not fairly reflect how far we've come as a team. At the beginning of the season, I would have said we'd be lucky to win games off Fort Mill. Tonight, we were in pretty much every game and won our fair share.

Seth Russell played a tough match at 1 singles and nearly staged a first set comeback. In the end, his Fort Mill opponent cleaned up his errors and won 6-4, 6-1.

Drayton Wade played perhaps the only opponent in region that can match his foot speed. The Fort Mill #2 has a bombing first serve and some good touch that proved too much for us tonight.

Brian Fitzpatrick played a little tight in the first set. He seemed to relax in the second set as he took a couple games off of Fort Mill's #3.

Hunter Love was definitely successful in frustrating his opponent at 4 singles. Hunter played a lot of deep backspin shots that gave Fort Mill's #4 fits at times.

Jordan Beaver played a highly touted 7th grader at 5 singles. His Fort Mill opponent is known in the junior ranks for being a backboard of an opponent that tends to make few errors. Jordan forced him into several in the second set and had him a little frustrated towards the end.

Our 2 doubles team of Jonathan Clark & Duncan Foy played a very strong match against a pair of 6-footers from Fort Mill. They hung in there til the end and forced the tempo for the majority of the match. Although they dropped the match 3-6, 3-6, neither played intimidated and they should have a good shot at this line in our next match up with Fort Mill.

Our reserves continued to play well as we took a singles and doubles match from Fort Mill. Alex Antezana blew his opponent off the court 8-0. Collins Mauldin and Jonathan Patton were also successful with an 8-6 decision. Ahmad Sheffield nearly had a clean sweep of the reserves, but fell in a tiebreak 7-8.

We play at home tomorrow against Clover. We'll get our challenge matches started at 4:00 and the varsity will start at 5:00. Dress warm as the temperatures are forecast to get into the low 30's tomorrow night.

Go Trojans!

Box Score:

Location: Fort Mill HS
Result: Fort Mill 7, Northwestern 0

1s: Robby Davis def Seth Russell 6-4, 6-1
2s: Kyle Orsburn def Drayton Wade 6-2, 6-0
3s: Daniel Proctor def Brian Fitzpatrick 6-0, 6-2
4s: Tyler Davis def Hunter Love 6-2, 6-2
5s: Andreas Leon def Jordan Beaver 6-0, 6-2

1d: R Davis/Orsburn def Russell/Wade 8-3
2d: Kyle Patterson/Chase Riddle def Jonathan Clark/Duncan Foy 6-3, 6-3

Travel Roster / Home Roster - Fort Mill & Clover matches

Monday 4/6 - Wear purple jersey or Grey T-shirt
@ Ft Mill travel roster (bus departs at 4:15):

Seth, Drayton, Brian, Hunter, Jordan, Jonathan C, Duncan, Alex, Tyler L, Jonathan P, Ahmad, Matt, Collins M

Tuesday 4/7 - Wear white jersey or white t-shirt
vs. Clover dress list*:

Seth, Drayton, Brian, Hunter, Jordan, Jonathan C, Duncan, Alex, Tyler L, Jonathan P

*Clover only has 10 players so there will only be 3 reserve matches. We will be doing team challenge matches on TUESDAY during the Clover match on our back courts starting at 4:00 PM. All the following players need to be in attendance in order to defend or challenge a roster spot:

1) Caleb vs. Phillip
2) Jacob vs. Ben
3) Collin S vs. Tyler H
4) Matt vs. Ahmad
5) Chris vs. Key
6) Collins vs. Michael

Go Trojans!