TENNIS

The Batesburg Leesville High School boys’ tennis was recently reinstated in 2019 after not having a team in 2018.

On April 30, the Panthers finished their inaugural season with a 5-1 loss to Southside Christian in the opening round of the Class 2A playoffs.

For junior Reece Rawls, this was his first year playing tennis. He decided to make the switch after growing weary of baseball. Plus, his uncle played tennis so he figured he could give it a shot as well.

For Rawls, his first season playing was fine. However, he wanted to win a couple more matches.

Nevertheless, he was not upset with the outcome as it was his first year playing the number 1 spot for the Panthers. He hopes to get more wins next year.

Rawls was the last one to finish his match against his White Knoll opponent. He described it as a pretty good match despite getting behind early in the first set. Eventually, he managed to come back point by point and shot by shot.

For William Ash, the new Batesburg-Leesville head coach, the first season overall was a massive success. Ash was asked to be the new coach for the boy’s tennis team and he managed to get enough players to build a team.

The win over the Timberwolves was the program’s third straight heading into the Class 2A playoffs.

Ash was not a tennis player, but his girlfriend played tennis in college. He started playing tennis last summer with his girlfriend to help him prepare for the inaugural tennis season.

He loves being a tennis coach, especially at Batesburg-Leesville, as athletics are very important in the Lexington County town. He hates to say it means more in other places, but sometimes it feels like it does and his team is proud to be Panthers.

To bring tennis back and do it in a successful manner for his first year certainly feels good and provides tons to build upon as the Panthers are not where they want to be at yet.

He is looking forward to the bright future ahead.

For junior Darius Dennis, the number 3 player for the Panthers boy’s tennis team, this was his first-time playing tennis and he finished with a winning record.

Playing tennis for the first time was very fun for Dennis and an exciting new experience to try coming off football, basketball, and baseball.

Senior Lane Janney was a member of the Panthers boys’ basketball team and was asked by Ash, who was a team assistant. Ash asked Lane Janney and 2 of his teammates, Wayman Gilliam and Jaewan Williams, to join as well.

Janney enjoys playing tennis as its a fun sport and easy to learn and get involved in it as he gets to be around the guys. Overall, he’s enjoyed the experience and believes the team will build upon its success.

Wildcats fall at Lower State

The 2019 season ended this past Monday at home for the Lexington High School tennis team with a 5-1 loss to Wando in the Class 5A Lower State final. The Wildcats finished 17-2.

(Singles)

Luke Prendergast (W) def. Patrick Cronin- 6-4, 6-0

Alex Shaw (W) def. Zack Howard 6-2, 6-1

Will Bumgarner (W) def. Hampton Cope 6-3, 3-6, 10-6

Jack Johnson (W) def. Daniel Ma-honey 6-1, 6-3

Nick Heidel (W) def. Mehul Jain 6-2, 6-1

(Doubles)

Connor Hewson/Alex Fellers (W) def. Wando 6-1, 6-1