Southern Wayne senior Juliana Leon returns a ball to West Johnston’s Bella Drown during their No. 4 singles match Tuesday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne senior Amy Lemus connects on a return against West Johnston’s Charlotte Wood during their No. 3 singles match Tuesday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne senior Allya Segura rips a forehand shot against West Johnston’s Emily Buckner during first-set play at No. 2 singles on Tuesday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne sophomore Charity Van Dyke, a returning regional qualifier, keeps her eye on the ball during a backhand return against West Johnston’s Kolleen Tyndall at No. 1 singles Tuesday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
DUDLEY — A mixture of experience and inexperience surfaced during Southern Wayne’s season-opening, 8-1 loss to Quad County 3A girls’ tennis foe West Johnston on Tuesday afternoon.
“We have one new player and two players who played exhibition last year,” Saints head coach David Van Dyke said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the team today. They went out and battled hard.”
The Saints’ No. 1 doubles of sophomore Charity Van Dyke and senior Allya Segura pulled out a 9-7 decision over the Wildcats’ tandem of Charlotte Wood and Della Brown.
Directed by Rosewood High School alum Jay James, West Johnston (1-2 overall, 1-1 QCC) earned straight-set decisions on all six singles courts. Top-seeded senior Kolleen Tyndall rallied from a 2-1, opening-set deficit to defeat Van Dyke 6-4, 6-1.
Southern Wayne’s No. 2 doubles of senior Juliana Leon and senior Amy Lemus dropped a competitive 8-5 decision.
“West Johnston is quite the veteran team and have a very good coach,” coach Van Dyke said. “The girls had fun and enjoyed their first Quad County Conference match of the new season. It felt good for me to see them learning the sport and getting better.”
The Saints travel to Wilson Hunt next Tuesday.
West Johnston 8, Southern Wayne 1
Singles: No. 1 — Kolleen Tyndall (WJ) d. Charity Van Dyke 6-4, 6-1; No. 2 — Emily Buckler (WJ) d. Allya Segura 6-0, 6-0; No. 3 — Charlotte Wood (WJ) d. Amy Lemus 6-0, 6-0; No. 4 — Bella Drown (WJ) d. Juliana Leon 6-0, 6-2; No. 5 — Elly Jens (WJ) d. Ameya Randolph 6-0, 6-0; No. 6 — Nadia Barnes (WJ) d. Yeimi Sanchez Martinez 6-0, 6-1.
Doubles: No. 1 — Van Dyke-Segura (SW) d. Wood-Drown 9-7; No. 2 — Jens-Barnes (WJ) d. Leon-Lemus 8-5; No. 3 — Perry-Byrd (WJ) d. Sanchez Martinez-Randolph 8-2.
