Russellville High School tennis standout Peyton Parrish made her future plans known during a celebration at the RHS field house where she signed to play for the University of North Alabama Lions.

Parrish has already been a top-player on the RHS varsity squad for many years. So far at RHS, Parrish has a singles record of 84-14 and has been the No. 1 court singles section champion three times. She is the first RHS girl to make it to the singles finals at the state tournament. Last summer, she participated as a member of the AHSAA North-South All-Star tennis team.

“I’m so thankful for everyone that came out,” Parrish said about her celebration and signing. “This is just a dream come true for me, so I’m just so thankful that we all got to come here and make it so special.”

Russellville head coach Charlotte Dollar shared that Parrish not only excels on the court but also off of it.

“As amazing as Peyton is as a tennis player, she is an even more amazing person,” Dollar said. “She excels academically and participates in numerous school clubs and activities, including Miss RHS. She is generous, kind, humble and respectful. I consider myself blessed just to know her and am so honored and grateful to have her on my team.”

The Russellville team has qualified for the state tournament each year that Parrish has been on the squad. The last three years, the Golden Tigers have finished third, second and fourth at the 4A-5A state tournament. Each of those years, RHS finished as the top 4A-5A public school in the state.

“I’m really working hard to be able to win state this year,” Parrish explained. “This year, I’m really pushing myself and working as hard as I can to maybe achieve that goal.”

Parrish’s skills can also be seen on the No. 1 doubles court for RHS alongside her partner, Sofi Tiffin. The teammates have been No. 1 doubles section champs twice and No. 1 doubles state runner-up twice.

“It’s been a great experience to get to go through all my high school tennis years with her because she’s so amazing at everything she does,” Tiffin said of Parrish. “She’s such a good person, she’s very inspirational and she’s just a good influence to look up to. I’m so proud of her and what she’s done to get to this point, and I hope she does well in all that she does.”