Tigers Score First Season Wins
By Brandon Reed
The Commerce Tiger tennis team picked up their first wins of the season against Woody Gap on Thursday.
Commerce hopes to add more wins this week, as they’ll face East Jackson and Banks County on Wednesday afternoon.
The Tigers started off their week with a trip to Tallulah Falls last Tuesday. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams came up short, with the girls losing 4-1, and the boys losing 5-0 to the Indians.
For the girls, the number two doubles pair of Heather Boyer and Bailey Lord won their match 8-6.
While the boys got beat, head tennis coach Blake Rodenroth said their play was getting better.
“We kept the matches close to the end where it seemed we would make a mistake and Tallulah would capitalize on it,” he said.
Tuesday’s disappointment was forgotten on Thursday, as the Tigers boys and girls both defeated the Falcons of Woody Gap, the girls 4-1 and the boys 5-0.
For the girls, number two singles player Maddison Knick won. Woody Gap forfeited the number three singles. Number one doubles pair Bree Haggard and Sarah Leffew won their match, while Woody Gap forfeited the number two doubles match.
For the boys, number one singles player Yash Parekh won his match, while Woody Gap forfeited the number two and three singles matches.
Number one doubles pair Joseph Sanders and Kehne Brummette won their match, as did Deep Patel and Jake Hill at number two.
“We played better and had some breaks go our way,” Rodenroth said. “A couple of the matches were tight, but our kids managed to step up when they needed to. We are proud of them for hanging in there and playing hard.”
Rodenroth said he hopes the wins will generate some confidence to carry the teams through this week’s matches.
The Tigers were scheduled to play Towns County on the road on Tuesday. Results were unavailable at press time. They will face East Jackson and Banks County on Wednesday. The boys will play at Commerce beginning at 3:30 p.m., while the girls will play at East Jackson, also beginning at 3:30 p.m.
