High school boys tennis: Hornets, Mustangs winning
Published 10:48 pm Thursday, March 30, 2023
Staff report
SALISBURY — Make it nine in a row for coach Milton Griffith and Salisbury’s boys tennis team.
The Hornets (9-0, 8-0) won 8-1 against Central Carolina Conference opponent West Davidson on Wednesday and handled Ledford 8-1 in Thursday’s non-conference matchup.
Salisbury tennis loans freshman No. 4 singles player Bryant Davis to the golf team when the golf team has a match, so Davis missed the West Davidson match.
Gray Davis, Reid Hlavacek, Wyatt Goodnight, Sawyer Cornelison and Marcus Everson won their singles matches, with Cornelison and Everson moving up a seed. Salisbury lost at No. 6, where WD’s Patrick Holcomb took a 6-3, 6-4 match against Salisbury’s Schofield McAallister.
Gray Davis/Hlavacek, Goodnight/Cornelison and Everson/Sawyer Burton swept doubles. Everson and Burton won the closest match at No. 3 — 8-5.
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Ledford provided the deepest competition that the Hornets have seen so far.
Hlavacek lost the first set at No. 2 singles but came back to win 4-6, 7-5, 10-6 to stay undefeated.
Goodnight won 7-5, 6-4 at No. 3 to stay unbeaten.
Gray Davis, Bryant Davis, Cornelison and Everson took their matches, as the Hornets swept singles.
Ledford’s win came at No. 1 doubles, where Gray Davis/Hlavacek lost for the first time this season,
The Hornets got doubles wins from Goodnight/Cornelison and Bryant Davis/Everson.
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East Rowan (5-4, 4-3) appears to be the best of the four Rowan teams in the South Piedmont Conference, but the Mustangs probably are headed for fourth place.
East posted a 6-3 win against West Rowan and a 7-2 non-conference victory against Mount Pleasant this week.
Ryan Brady, Owen Kesler, Blake Mathews, Davis Myers and Preston Stephens won singles matches against West, with Paxton Greene winning at No. 6 for the Falcons.
Winning doubles teams were West’s Dylan Parrish/Abe Davis, West’s Sam Gulledge/Blake Pope and East’s Kesler/Myers.
Brady, Myers, Owen Kesler, Mathews, Will Kesler and freshman Thomas Stokes swept singles for East against Mount Pleasant. Brady/Owen Kesler won at No. 1 doubles.
East won a 5-4 match with Carson. That rematch is set for Senior Night at East on April 18.