Boys tennis opens strong

The Marion County High School boys tennis team opened up strong with two wins but fell to a tough Casey County High School team on Saturday.

Jesse Osbourne

Marion County High School junior Joseph George returns the ball in a match against Casey County's Brad Jeffries on Saturday at Marion County High School. George held his own for a while but eventually fell 3-8 to Jeffries. More photos from the match can b

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"Casey County is not in our region but they always have a strong tennis team.  Playing them gives us a strong challenge and it's the best practice we can have for improving our team,” boys tennis Head Coach Beverly Thomas said. “We will meet them again later in the season.”

Austin Spalding and Joseph George, the number one and two singles players, struggled against the Jeffries brothers from Casey County.

Spalding fell 1-8 as Kyle Jeffries sent him running all over the court.

Joseph George held tight early, only down 2-3 to Brad Jeffries. Jeffries collected himself and went on to win 3-8.

Marion County was swept in singles play with junior Jordan Culver being the only team member with a close match. Culver, who started learning the game from scratch last season, went head-to-head with Casey County's Ryan Martin. Culver eventually lost 7-9.

"Jordan really proved himself with that kind of a game against Ryan Martin," Thomas said.

Culver and Spalding teamed up to win in a doubles match, Marion County's only win for the day against superior Casey County.

Coming into that match, the Knights had easy wins against LaRue County High School (5-0) and Bardstown High School (5-0).

"The LaRue County boys won the region last year. However, three of their top players didn't return this year. Doubles teams against Bardstown faced more difficulty securing a win. This was a good experience to see how they could play under the pressure of securing wins. Single players had no problem with their wins," Thomas said.

March 30, 2009    

MCHS   vs   Casey Co.

MCHS  1      Casey Co.  8

Singles:

(1)  Austin Spalding         vs     Kyle Jeffries

         (1-8)  

(2)  Joseph George          vs     Brad Jeffries

          (3-8)

(3)  Jordan Culver            vs     Ryan Martin

                   (7-9)

(4)  Alex Spalding            vs     Florian Staudt

          (2-8)

(5)  Daniel Dos                vs     Zack Snow

                   (1-8)

(6)  Michael Spalding       vs     Alfredo Salcdeo

                   (0-8)

Doubles:

(1)  Noah Swencki          vs    Brad Jeffries

      Jacob Burdette                      Ryan Martin

                   (6-8)  

(2)  Austin Spalding          vs  Florian Staudt

       Jordan Culver                    Spencer Wright

                   (8-5)   *

(3)  Alex Spalding            vs     Clay Cannon

       Ryker Cassidy                            Corey Roy

                   (5-8)

March 23, 2009    

MCHS   Vs   Bardstown    

MCHS  5     Bardstown     0

Singles:

(1)  Austin Spalding         vs     Jonathan Kays

         (6-0)   (6-0) *

(2)  Joseph George          vs     Spencer Smith

         (6-2)   (6-0) *

(3)  Jordan Culver             vs    John Drury

         (6-0)   (6-1) *

Doubles:

(1)  Noah Swencki          vs    Clayton Brooks

      Jacob Burdette                      David Conway

         (6-1)   (6-4) *

(2)  Trey Hamilton            vs    John Stone

       Alex Mayo                         Yoshi Shirokawa

                   (6-3)   (7-5) *

March 23, 2009    

MCHS   vs   LaRue

MCHS  5      LaRue   0

Singles:

(1)  Austin Spalding         vs     Dylan Parr

         (6-2)   (6-1) *

(2)  Joseph George          vs     Ryan Abell

          (6-1)   (6-0) *

(3)  Jordan Culver             vs    Caleb Canter

          (6-1)   (6-0) *

Doubles:

(1)  Noah Swencki          vs    Bo Haun

      Jacob Burdette                      Brent Gozzard

           (7-5)   (6-0) *

(2)  Trey Hamilton            vs    Zack Lee

       Alex Mayo                         Ian Mather

            (6-0)   (6-0) *