Sports

DWS girls tennis locks up another region title; boys title up for grabs

• The Lady Knights secure yet another Region 3-AAA title, while Southland and Deerfield boys and neck-and-neck at the conference tournament, which concludes today.

Derek Barichello

ALBANY — Chris Bird and Brett Nobles kind of hoped it would go down like this.

Although they play for different schools, Deerfield-Windsor's Nobles and Southland's Bird hung out together and intently watched the boys doubles match early Monday evening at Darton College, site of this year’s Region 3-AAA boys and girls tennis tournament.

With the two-time defending state champion DWS girls, led by longtime coach Meredith Gruhl, already clinching the GISA Region 3-AAA title earlier in the afternoon, all attention turned to the boys’ title, which still was undecided at the end of Day 1.

As Nobles and Bird looked on, the Knights’ duo of Graham Davis and Tommy Forrestal won the match to advance to the finals.

But the implications of that showdown were much greater.

The Deerfield win meant the Knights and and four-time defending region champ Southland ended the opening round tied at 19-19, which likely will make the No. 1 singles showdown between Nobles and Bird — foes on the court, but close friends off it — the match that will decide which team wins this year’s boys region title.

"I always look forward to playing him," said Nobles, who has finished region runner-up to Bird the past two seasons, but actually beat his friend in the final regular-season match late last month. "We both know each other really well. If I could win, that would be a big thing for me and my team."

The much anticipated matchup will take place if Nobles can defeat Southland’s Brandon Vann in the semis today, while Bird will have to dispose of Tyler Mason of Deerfield in the other semifinal.

And Bird is eager for a rematch.

"I know I have to be more aggressive than last time," Bird said of his recent loss to Nobles, who — like the rest of of his DWS teammates — hope to end Southland’s streak of consecutive region titles today.

But for that to happen, more than one scenario must fall into place today.

 Since four points are awarded to the teams of the semifinals winners, five for the championship and two for the consolation, that makes the doubles title match between the top-seeded Raiders’ doubles team of Tripp Parker/Justin Davis and the Knights' Graham Davis/Forrestal today just as important, along with the consolation matchups in both singles and doubles.

"It will be very tight," Southland coach Jimmy Thaxton said. "I think it could come down to who wins the consolations."

While the Knights look to end a streak of Raiders dominance in the region, the Lady Knights continued theirs.

Deerfield’s No. 1 doubles duo of Taylor Hawke/Haley Fulford remained undefeated on the season and did not lose a single game all day. They will meet teammates Kelly Hoopes/Sarah Kitchen, also undefeated, in the championship, while Southland's Maggie Fletcher/Sally Ouyang and Lindsey Baker/Caylee Hammock square off in the consolation.

"It's good because you get to play your team and it's bad because you have to your team," said Hawke, a senior who has won three individual state titles and three team state championship in her five years on the team. "You have to remember that this is the real thing. It isn't practice."

In singles, the same situation could occur. The Lady Knights have the top two seeded players, No. 1 Sonya Belakhlef and No. 2 Sarah Schatz playing in the semifinals, and both are undefeated in region play.

Schatz will play Southland's Mollie McGowan and Belakhlef's opponent will be the Lady Raiders' Rachel Rye.

"If I lose, I won't be too upset. My goal was to finish in the top four and go to state, so I'm happy,” said Rye about the fact that each of the top four finishers in the singles division advance to next week’s state individual championships in Tifton. The boys and girls region winners won’t compete for the team state title until April 30 in Augusta.

Overall, Gruhl, who also coaches the boys, was pleased with locking up yet another girls region title after Day 1 as the Lady Knights took their first step in attempting to win three consecutive state titles, while becoming the first sports team in DWS history to do so.

"It could be easy to lose focus, so I put little personal goals in place to keep them moving forward," Gruhl said. "I didn't have to remind them of what they're supposed to do. They knew what to do."

But what about the DWS boys, whom Gruhl called a “sleeper” coming into the tournament?

"These guys have come from losing 5-0 to Southland earlier this year to what will be a very close day (today)," Gruhl said. "I have to be happy."

SCA LOOKS TO FUTURE

Not to be overlooked from Monday’s Region 3-AAA tournament was the play of Sherwood Christian Academy, which was eliminated from contention in both singles and doubles after Day 1.

Still, first-year SCA coach Curtis Driver described the event as a moral victory for his growing program.

In boys singles, SCA’s Alex Letchworth came away with an opening-round victory against Josh Horton of Westfield in two sets, while Marla Middleton defeated Westfield's Erin Waller in the opening round of girls singles.

Although that same duo went on to lose to the tournament's top seeds in the next round and the two early wins would be the only ones for the Eagles in the tournament, Driver believes it is a step forward — especially since Sherwood will be playing in a smaller region next season in AA.

"It is hard to compete with (Deerfield and Southland)," Driver said. "With our new facility and moving down a region, we should be able be more competitive in the future. At our school, we honor God, win or lose, but that still doesn't mean that I like to lose."

NEW-FOUND ‘SOLE’

Before Letchworth pulled off his upset victory in the opening round, he exchanged shoes with Driver. Letchworth noticed holes in his pair of size 12's and flip-flopped with the coach's much tighter 10's.

"I don't think it was the shoes," Letchworth said with a laugh about his win.

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