Waynesville Tennis took a hard loss to Jeff City Thursday night in a 0-9 shutout.  Despite it being such a hard takedown, this was the best I have seen my boys play so far this season.  Being short our #1 Steven Berrios, due to his participation at the Nationals JROTC Drill Team competition in KY, we knew going into this match that we were already behind to this tennis powerhouse.  Starting with doubles competition, not one of these boys have played doubles this year with the guy standing next to them on court.  Former partners from last year, David Sneed and Cameron Martell, played their best doubles match I’ve witnessed.  Their communication was better than ever before, and they knocked a game off of Jeff City as a result.  Hitting deuce multiple times, these boys played a competitive match.  Little mistakes kept us from pulling out the win each game. In fact, that was the case on most courts.  Sophomore Tyler Gayman stepped up and took the lead in his first ever match on court 1.  Taking on Senior Joseph Mendez, the same kid that just barely lost in a tiebreaker last year to our skilled Robert Osborn, Tyler played him very well. I’m extremely proud of Tyler.  The amount of work he has put in this year has just been phenomenal.  As a second year player, he is making great strides and seeing so much success as a result.  Watching him play last night, I could just see his mind working.  He’s starting to learn the court much better.  Instead of playing a defensive game of just-get-the-ball-in, Tyler is now starting to think ahead.  He’s reading his opponent, working him around the court, and pushing to get him out of place.  Tonight, Tyler had several good setups.  He played deuce many times in both of his matches.  Unfortunately, he just made more mistakes than his opponent.  Still yet, this match was nothing to frown about.  Another great match was played by Eromo Aligbe tonight.  Eromo has really come a long way.  Playing JV last year for his first year of tennis at #14, he has worked hard in the off-season to work his way to Varsity.  Now playing #6, Eromo is swinging a much more consistent game.  Running his opponent all over the court tonight, Eromo made him work for his win.  Eromo had multiple drop shot winners his opponent just couldn’t get to.  Eromo is a great player and is extremely coachable.  He works hard to better himself, and the improvement I’m seeing in his stroke is only proof of that. The Tigers have a busy week next week, with four days on the road, taking on Osage Monday. 

Singles

Tyler Gayman vs. Joseph Mendez, 1-8

David Sneed vs. Karsten Mcmillan, 3-8

Derick Anglin vs. Jarrod Henry, 0-8

Cameron Martell vs. Joshua Jay, 1-8

Eromo Aligbe vs. Atul Krishnadas, 1-8

Dominic Williams vs. Kyle Highfill, 2-8

Doubles

Gayman/Anglin vs. Mendez/Jay, 0-8

Sneed/Martell vs. Mcmillan/Krishnadas, 1-8

Aligbe/Williams vs. Henry/Highfill, 3-8