Photo by Brian Hoffman
The Lord Botetourt tennis teams opened the spring season last Thursday as both the girls and boys took on Salem. The girls took a 7-2 win in Salem while the Spartans edged the LB boys, 5-4, on the Hollins University courts.
The girls took a 4-2 lead after the singles as Elaina Brown won at two, Kennedy Dorsey won at three, Gwyneth Farrar won at four and Ava Duff took the five singles match. Botetourt then swept the doubles with the teams of Reagan Meade and Dorsey, Brown and Farrar, and Duff and Sarah Meadows.
The boys were down 4-2 after singles despite winning at one and two. Ethan Steryous and Davis Kidd both dominated with 8-0 pro set wins in the first two spots. Nick Wright lost a key tie-breaker at third singles.
“Nick played very well and displayed great footwork but he had problems on the backhand wing and then covering the then open court on the forehand side,” said coach Tim Howard. “Overall, it was a great match.”
In doubles Steryous and Noah McCarren won 8-1 at number one and Kidd and Wright won 8-3 at second doubles but Salem took the third doubles to pull out a close win.
“One team aspect that I was proud of was serving,” said Howard. “I hardly saw any double faults on the day and that was very impressive. Overall, our bottom four have a consistent playing style that I think they are going to hone over the season and that will make for some tremendous tennis.”
Both teams are off this week for spring break, returning Monday, March 30, against Blacksburg. The boys are at Blacksburg and the girls will host the Bruins at Hollins University.
