Sports

Split ’em up

• The Lee County boys romp against Bainbridge, 4-1, while the story was different for the Lady Trojans, who were beaten up by the Lady Bearcats, 5-0.

Derek Barichello

ALBANY — Lee County’s doubles team of Colby Pines and Mark Mullins stayed confident.

Leading 2-1 in team points and needing a win to clinch their Region 1-AAAA match Thursday at Darton College against conference foe Bainbridge, the No. 1 doubles duo rallied after losing the first set badly (6-1) to Bainbridge’s Dillon Fowler and Bobby Forrester, and found a way to pull out the win to lift the Trojans to the 4-1 win — and more importantly, stay undefeated and on top in region play.

“It was a sweet, sweet victory,” Pines said. “We stayed confident. That was the key.”

The win also guaranteed the Trojans will finish in the Top 2 in region and will host during the state playoffs.

“It was a big win,” first-year Lee County coach Blair Johnston said. “I think we can build on this confidence, now we know what we can do against a good team.”

The same can’t be said for the Lee County girls.

The Lady Bearcats — defending 1-AAAA champs — blitzed No. 1 singles star Melinda Vansant and Lee County, 5-0.

While the match was much closer than the score indicated — two of the three singles matches went to a third set — Bainbridge showed why it is the defending champs.

In less than an hour, the Lady Bearcats’ No. 1 doubles team of Jessica Monk and Caroline Rollins, as well as the No. 2 doubles duo of McCall Mason and Anna Wells, and No. 2 singles Kylie McGliney all notched wins to pick up three points and locking up the win.

“We know now we are at worst going to be second place and have home court,” Bainbridge coach Pauncho Hufstatler said. “But these girls know where they want to be and we’ll have to beat Thomas County Central, and they’re usually tough.”

In the last girls matches to finish — despite the Lady Bearcats already having the win wrapped up — the excitement was still very much alive.

Bainbridge No. 1 Katie Monson defeated Lee County’s Melinda Vansant in a thrilling third set after having to rally from her first-set loss, while No. 3 Kelsey Lambert bested Courtney Wingfield, 13-11, in a tiebreaker, instead of playing a third set.

“It was really tough,” Monson said of playing Vansant, who lost for just the second time all season. “It was right up there with one of the toughest matches I’ve played this year. I didn’t get tired, I just stayed focused.”

Vansant felt the match turned in Mason’s favor when she suffered a left calf cramp in the second set but did not use that as an excuse.

“It was hard to recover,” Melinda Vansant said. “But she just played better. She didn’t make as many errors and stayed consistent.”

Speaking of consistent, Pines and Mullins were the epitome of that in the second and third sets Thursday.

Although the Lee County doubles duo remained confident, Johnston was sweating.

“I was very nervous,” Johnston said. “This is the best opponent overall we’ve seen, and I’m so happy that we were able to handle it.”

The win at No. 1 doubles may have clinched it but singles victories from No. 1 Matt Vansant — still undefeated on the season — and No. 3 Gene Schultz put the Trojans ahead. Both won quickly in straight sets.

“It was very important for me to get a win,” said Matt, a sophomore, who lost just three games in a set, matching the most he has lost in high school career. “I knew if we lost we weren’t going to win the region, so I tried to set the tone.”

Bainbridge grabbed their lone win at No. 2 singles when Chris Lott defeated the Trojans’ Joseph Valdez.

Still, at the end of the day, Johnston couldn’t get past his Lady Trojans suffering their first Region 1-AAAA defeat.

“It was heartbreaking,” Johnston said. “I felt like we played better than 0-5. We’ll have to work on that stuff Monday in practice and that’s what we’re going to do — fix what we did wrong.”

Back to today's Sports>>