BY BRADY DANIELS
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
PIKEVILLE — Both Martin County High School tennis teams competed March 28, taking on Shelby Valley on the road.
The boys lost 9-1 and the girls lost 8-1.
Head Coach Josh Penix said Shelby Valley was a good matchup.
“Most matches were a couple games away from going the other direction,” Penix said. “I keep seeing improvements each and every day out of everyone.”
In singles, Caleb Horn won 7-6 over J. Hughes and 7-3 in a tiebreak.
Austin Washburn lost a close 6-4 to B.Wright, Cory Jarrell came up short to L. Johnson 6-3, Brayden Cook lost to J. Napier 6-2, BJ Parsley lost 7-5 to E. Bolan, Levi Howell came up short 6-3 to D. Johnson, and William Daniels fell 6-0 to D. Johnson.
In the boys’ doubles, Horn and Jarrell lost 6-4 to Wright and Johnson; Cook and Parsley fell 6-3 to Hughes and Napier 3-6; Howell and Daniels lost 6-2 to Bolan and Johnson.
For the girls, Emma Gully won 7-6 and 7-5 in the tiebreaker over G. Hall. Kennedy Mills lost 6-0 to M.Caudill, Caitlyn Horn fell short 6-4 to C. Sykes, Tamara Workman lost 7-5 to K. Lucas, Lexi Sammons came up short 6-4 to F. Johnson and Alyssa Allen lost 6-1 to L. Mullins.
In girls’ doubles, Horn and Workman lost 7-5 to Caudill and Sykes, Mills and Sammons fell 6-3 to Lucas and Johnson, and Allen and Gulley lost 6-3 to Mullins and Hall.
Martin County was scheduled to travel Thursday to Ironton, but the meet was canceled due to weather and court conditions.
“Ironton, we were excited for, as they play mixed tennis during the spring, so we were going to use this as good practice as some of the girls would have gone against boys and boys against girls,” said Penix. “We had practiced a couple of mixed doubles teams to try out as well, due to this unique matchup, but, unfortunately, they requested a reschedule due to weather. So I look forward to getting this match rescheduled.”
Martin County has the week off for spring break and returns to action April 11 at Lawrence County.
“Lawrence County has a strong history for tennis success and always is a tough matchup,” said Penix. “I will be interested in how our young team matches up with them this year in our first matchup.”