Statesboro Men’s Tennis Kicks Off Season With 4-1 Win Over West Laurens

The varsity men’s tennis kicked off their season in a dominant fashion.

Destiny Hartwell

STATESBORO — The Statesboro High boy's tennis team kicked off the 2024 spring season with a thrilling 4-1 victory over the West Laurens Raiders on Tuesday afternoon in its home opener at Mill Creek Tennis Center. Sophomore Davis Hall clinched the victory for Statesboro after a thrilling third set tiebreaker win 6-4, 1-6, (11-9).

How It Happened

The Blue Devils jumped out to a quick 1-0 edge after earning the doubles point thanks to wins from Carter Copeland and Tyler Blythe registered Statesboro's first doubles win of the year when they bested Kenneth Reyes and Jax Crawford on court ten, 6-0, 6-2.
West Laurens knotted the score at 1-1 early in doubles action when Clayton Tapley and Matthew Gibbs defeated Asher Hodgin and Davis Hall in a thriller match 1-6, 6-4, (4-10) on court eight.
The Blue Devils then posted back-to-back victories on court seven and nine, respectively, to jump in front, 3-1. Xavier Deckard tallied 6-2, 6-2 wins over Alex Dyar on the main court before Griffin Green notched a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Aidan Payne at three singles.
Sophomore Davis Hall clinched the victory for Statesboro after a thrilling third set tiebreaker win 6-4, 1-6, (11-9).
The Blue Devils also received wins from doubles teams of Sean Kim and Luke Wallace (9-7), Aiden Lee and Luke Watanabe (8-4), Josiah Rawls and Jay Broucek (6-8).

Quotes

"It was great to get a team win. It wasn't a traditional first match of the year, as I really wanted to challenge the team from the start. Just being in those pressure situations early on will only help us. We have a lot of respect for West Laurens, their players and coaching staff, they just compete really well. They pushed us in a lot of areas and ultimately was great to see my younger players like freshman Griffin Green play aggressive like he did in his high school season opener. That was a big win for him."

– Statesboro head coach Iesha Baldwin on her thoughts from the match.