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Season Recap: MS Tennis
Entering the season as a young, inexperienced team overall, the Tallulah Falls School MS tennis teams finished as a veteran group with playoff experience. Both teams showed significant improvement throughout the campaign, and closed their season with deep league tournament runs.
For the boys team that contained just three eighth-graders, and more than one who had little game experience, a league runner-up finish is a great testament to how far they came.
The Indians were 8-4 overall and 3-2 in league action. After a tournament win over Rabun Gap, TFS fell to Southern Mountain League champions Rabun County to close the season.
The boys opened the season with back-to-back wins before their first loss, then won two more in a row. The Indians secured a season-high three-match win streak with the semifinals win over Rabun Gap. Reilly Cox took on the toughest opponents and recorded three wins, while William NeSmith at #2 singles racked up five victories and Elijah Pinney six at #3 singles. Jackson Davis and Christian David (seven apiece), Fenn NeSmith (six), and Joseph Turney and Maddox English (four) tallied multiple doubles wins. Cox and Pinney will return next season, as will several of the doubles players.
"The boys had only one returning player from the lineup last season in Reilly who played #1 singles, but there were a couple of exhibition players in Christian and Joseph who really were clutch in several matches this season at doubles," says coach Anthony Cox. "The rest of the lineup of new players was really solid as well. We had an army of young players who developed their game really well throughout the course of the summer and season, so the future is bright!"
The Lady Indians were smaller in number, and though they had more eighth-graders, there were very few with previous experience. The girls posted a 6-5 overall record that including going 4-1 in the Southern Mountain League regular season on the way to the semifinals, where they fell in a tough 3-2 match. After going 2-4 in the first six matches of the season, the Lady Indians went on a solid run to win four in a row to close out the regular season going into the tournament.
Madison Phillips at #1 singles had a great showing with a program-best nine wins. Agnes Hogan at #2 singles won seven matches, and Olivia Bonner at #3 won four. At doubles, Gracey Eller and Savana Owensby had four wins, while Catherine Harris and Steffi Siebert had one win each in doubles play. Five of the girls will move up to the high school, including all three singles players.
"Our girls team was led by our only three returners at the singles positions, Madison, Agnes, and Olivia," adds Cox. "Madison was strong all season, and she had played singles previously. Agnes and Olivia were both new to singles, but once they got comfortable in that role and gained confidence, they played very well. We also have some really important wins in the doubles lines, which were filled with newcomers."
With the success this season and plenty of players potentially back in 2023, the future looks bright for the MS tennis team.
"Overall, we are really proud to have finished second in the Southern Mountain League in the regular season, which I think was a bit of an overachievement based on our experience level," states Cox. "The boys also made the championship match, which sets us up to be very successful next year."