By By Jeff Byrd / staff writer
May 1, 2002
The plan to upgrade the level of tennis in Meridian bore some fruit on Tuesday afternoon as Northeast Tennis Complex pro Dave Trebisky watched his students from Lamar School sweep its away to both the boys and girls MPSA South State AAA titles.
The Lamar boys won all four boys championships. The Lady Raiders won two of the four girls titles while the Lamar mixed doubles team was also victorious.
Lamar totaled 9 points in the boys team competition to dominate Manchester 2, Silliman Institute of Slidell, La., 1 1/2 and Adams Christian 0.
The Lady Raiders, meanwhile, finished with 7 points. Silliman had 2 1/2 while Copiah and Manchester had 2 each.
Trebisky was elated to see his teams rise to the occasion on Tuesday.
Pacing the Raiders was 13-year-old Wade Covington who won the No. 1 boys singles title.
But it wasn't easy. Covington had to come back from a set down to beat Jeff Williams of Silliman 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.
The key for Covington's rally was better control of his strokes.
Lamar's No. 1 boys doubles team of Wilson Kahlmus and Lane Rush also needed three sets. The pair beat Manchester's Will Jones and John Crisler 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. They had earlier beaten the ACCS team of Warren Freeman and Josh Jones 6-0, 6-0.
Jimmy Epps dropped only six games in rolling to the No. 2 singles crown. He beat Adam Burkes of Central Hinds 6-3, 6-1 in the final. He earlier defeated Devin Kelly of Silliman 6-0, 6-2.
Lamar's No. 2 doubles team of Frank Marascalco and Stanton Lauderdale won in straight sets over J. Phillips and J. Simmons of Manchester 6-4, 7-6. The pair had earlier whipped the ACCS pair of Denton Devine and Seth Swilley 6-0, 6-0.
In mixed doubles, Pat Phillippi and Katie Pearson beat Nat Cadessus and Keri Chaney of Silliman 6-3, 6-3 in the finals. They won their first match over ACCS's Brent Swilley and Ty Keo 6-1, 6-3.
On the girls side, Lamar's Sarah Michelle Nicholson romped to the No. 2 girls singles title while the No. 2 girls doubles team of Kelsey Cobb and Amy Swartzfager did the same, dropping just three games in four sets.
Nicholson ripped Manchester's Libbie Thomas 6-0, 6-1 in the final. Nicholson had earlier beaten Jessica Faulkner of ACCS 6-1, 6-2.
Cobb and Swartzfager whipped McLeod and Simmons of Manchester 6-2, 6-0 in the finals.
The lone outside wins came in No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles. Silliman's Adrienne Phares won 6-0, 6-0 over Lamar's Lisa Swartzfager in the No. 1 finals.
Copiah's team of Clayton and Clayton won the No. 1 doubles over Lamar's Kristina Makey and Ann Claire Marascalco 6-3, 6-2.