ORHS tennis opens Dist. 4 season with HVA
Wildcats take a split from a tough Hawks squad
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Sachi Griffin worked her way into the No. 1 singles position for the Oak Ridge girls tennis squad. The hard work paid off when the Wildcats hosted Hardin Valley Academy to open district play and she took an 8-5 win. - Tony Cox
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Freshman Wyatt Arline stepped up for Wildcat tennis last week against a very good Hardin Valley Academy squad. - Tony Cox
Oak Ridge tennis opened its TSSAA District 4 season with a home match win against Hardin Valley Academy.
The Lady Wildcats won their contest 7-2. Sachi Griffin led the way with a hard-fought 8-5 victory in singles.
“Sachi Griffin is a senior and a tenacious competitor on the courts and a great role model off the courts for our younger players,” Wildcats Coach David Bowman said. “Her win against Hardin Valley was her first for ORHS playing at No. 1 singles for the Lady Wildcats. .
“Sachi was not in the starting lineup last season,” he said. “She has been coming early and staying late for every practice this season. The result has been her winning all nine of her challenge matches over the past couple of weeks to earn the No. 1 spot on our team.”
Also winning their singles matches for the girls were Emily Williamson, Quin Russell, Sydney Blanchard, and Diana Ascencio. The Lady Wildcat doubles teams posted two additional victories with “nail-biters” at No. 2 doubles, Williamson and Russell won 9-7, and at No. 3 doubles, Blanchard and Ascencio won in a tiebreaker 9-8 (2).
On the boys’ side, ORHS lost 1-8 to a strong Hardin Valley team. The lone victory for the Wildcats came at No. 4 singles. Walter Nash had a convincing 8-1 win over the Hawks’ Marc Shultz.
Despite the loss, the Hardin Valley match did show off what could be in store for Wildcat tennis.
“Wyatt Arline is a freshman in his first year on the Wildcat Tennis Team,” Coach Joanne Bowman said.
“Wyatt is not only new to the team, but new to the game of tennis.
“Our No. 2 senior player was absent from the lineup versus Hardin Valley, so Wyatt had to play ‘up’ and performed admirably. He has worked hard in practices and we are looking forward to seeing him continue to improve.”