Red Bay's boys tennis team clinch spot at state, battle for section title

By Staff
Scot Beard
FLORENCE – A strong outing by the Red Bay boys tennis team Monday clinched the Tigers their seventh straight trip to the state tournament and put them in position to claim their fourth consecutive section title.
The finals of the section tournament were Tuesday afternoon, but results were not available at press time.
The Tigers had five of its six singles players reach the finals of the single elimination tournament and one of its three doubles teams also earned a finals spot. Five of the singles players had first-round byes.
Justin Roberts was the only Tiger to play in the first round and he defeated Lexington's Zac Sinyard 6-4, 6-3 in No.-5 singles action to advance to the semifinals. He was unable to keep his momentum going, falling to Lauderdale County's Morgan Yadacus 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals.
In other semifinals action, Toby Gray knocked off Jesse Thompson of Lauderdale County 7-5, 6-0 in No.-1 singles. Chris Funderburk defeated Lauderdale County's Matt Jones 7-6, 7-6 in the No.-2 singles.
Red Bay won three other singles semifinals when John Thigpen beat Lexington's Drew Springer in No.-3 singles; Kirk Armstrong beat Brett Alsbrooks of Sheffield 6-0, 6-3 in No.-4 singles and Roman Lynch defeated Mars Hill's Colton Durdunji 6-4, 6-4 in No.-6 singles.
The Tigers No.-1 doubles team of Gray and Armstrong hung on to beat Mars Hill 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 in the semifinals.
Red Bay's other doubles teams reached the semifinals, but could not advance further.
The No.-2 doubles team of Thigpen and Lynch beat Sheffield 6-2, 6-1 in the first round before falling to Lauderdale County 4-6, 6-1, 7-6.
The No.-3 team of Funderburk and Roberts knocked off Lauderdale County 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round before falling to Mars Hill 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals.
The Tigers accumulated enough points to clinch a spot at next week's state tournament. Red Bay had 34 points while Mars Hill, which also clinched a spot at state, had 33 points by the end of the first day of the tournament.
Red Bay coach Sonny Glasgow thinks his team can take the section crown.
"If we win No.-1 singles, No.-6 singles and No.-1 doubles, we will have a good chance to win the title," Glasgow said.
Those matches were against teams other than Mars Hill. Red Bay had three singles matches in the finals against the Panthers.
The state tournament will be next Monday and Tuesday at the Point Mallard State Park Courts in Decatur.