The tennis teams of Loudon and Lenoir City high schools wrapped up their regular seasons last week with both coaches pleased.
“It’s been a great season,” Bob Tripp, LHS head tennis coach, said. “I’m glad we were able to compete, because at first I thought we wouldn’t have enough to compete. … All of our players have improved significantly from day one and that’s always a joy for a coach to see. And they’ve played competitively as well.”
Loudon finished second in District 4-1A’s regular season rankings behind only Meigs County High School. Standout performers for the Redskins were Keaton Harig, who went undefeated in boys singles to claim the top seed with a 8-0 record, and the duo of Melody Lowrance and Bradyn Crowder, who took first place in girls doubles with a 7-1 record.
Harig achieved the feat in his first year playing varsity tennis, though he had experience recreationally. He also had a promising duo with Deven McCombs, going undefeated in the boys doubles opening games, but a concussion to McCombs ended that run.
McCombs returned to practice this week after missing the past three, leaving Tripp with a decision. Players have to choose between competing in singles or doubles for the district tournament, meaning Harig would be unable to build on his top spot in singles should he renew his partnership with McCombs. If the pair were to play doubles, they would be looking to defend the district championship title McCombs won with since-graduated Kyle Cole last year.
“We’ve not decided whether they’re going to play doubles, depending on how Deven feels and his game we’ll make a decision by the end of the week whether they’re going to play doubles or Keaton’s going to play singles,” Tripp said. “If we put Deven and Keaton together in doubles for the district, they have a real good chance of winning, because the next two strongest players in the district, they’re going to be playing singles, that’s what I’m told.”
For the team of Lowrance and Crowder, the situation is reversed. After topping the rankings in girls doubles, they will be unable to pursue a tournament title due to a prior engagement on Lowrance’s side. Crowder will compete in singles instead.
“She’ll be playing against some very tough girls in the district in singles,” Tripp said. “I’d have to go back and look at her singles record, I don’t remember what it was, but she placed No. 3 spot in singles. So if she plays singles she’ll be going up against the No. 1 and 2 at Meigs, and they’re pretty strong.”
District play for Loudon begins at 10 a.m. May 2 at the Ingleside Tennis Complex in Athens.
For Lenoir City, results were not as strong, but there was still plenty of positives for first year head coach Elena Burns.
“I think it went really well,” Burns said. “We didn’t win a lot of the matches, but from a personal best standpoint we saw a lot of improvement. We were winning games, we were winning courts. In the games that we didn’t win, there were a lot of points won, getting to deuce, so a really good season. I think a successful season in our books.”
Burns praised the attitude of players. She now looks forward to building on their progress, with many still on the younger or more inexperienced side.
“I loved it,” she said. “The kids are amazing, they all really love tennis, so they just make it really easy to coach them. They wanted to be at the games, they wanted to practice. The first year of coaching, I absolutely loved it. I’m looking toward to next year and having big plans for more practicing and getting more people involved.”
Players came together to bring a fun, family atmosphere to the team.
“I had players on both the boys and girls teams that just really took off,” Burns said. “They applied what we learned in practice, they were confident out on the courts. The season’s over but they’re still asking about practices, talking about next year, so I think they’ll just really continue to excel.”