JAMESTOWN — The final team score, a 5-0 Greeneview girls high school tennis win, may not show it but the host Rams and visiting Xenia Buccaneers played a well-contested match in mid-90 degree temperatures Sept. 11 on the Jami L. Sears Memorial tennis courts, at Frank Seaman Park.
The last contested match went 2 hours and 15 minutes before a victor could be determined. Greeneview’s undefeated second doubles duo of Hannah Litke and Destiny Laymon rallied to a 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 win against Xenia’s talented sister pair of Allison and Sarah Bogan. The Bucs tandem had the Rams on the ropes, leading 8-5 in the 10-point tiebreaker, but Litke and Laymon forged a9-9 tie before capitalizing on a deep Xenia shot and a net shot for the win.
When the teams met back in August, the Litke-Laymon duo needed a third-set pro-set tiebreaker win as well.
Greeneview coach Evan Grooms altered his lineup a slight bit for Wednesday’s matches. He moved usual second singles player Tori Chaney up to first singles, placed usual third singles player Karli Vipperman into the second singles role, and had Mirinda Shoemaker in at third.
Chaney defeated Xenia’s Autumn McCray by a 6-2, 6-0 score; Vipperman earned a 6-0, 6-0 win over the Bucs Julie King; and Shoemaker claimed a win when her opponent had to retire due to a heat-related illness.
In the first doubles match, Rams regular first singles player Zoe Sears partnered up with Brilea Bishop for a 6-2, 6-4 win over Xenia’s Ally Baker and Anna Carlson.
“These were well-played matches, and I think that benefited the kids for both teams,” Grooms said. “These kinds of matches are the best, because I think the kids learn the most from those. They learn who they are and what they can do … it was fun.”
Grooms’ Rams are now 12-2 this season. They return to Ohio Heritage Conference play on Thursday, Sept. 12 when they’ll host Greenon, also at Seaman Park.
Buccaneers coach Kay Scott said she’s seeing improvement from her youthful Xenia bunch.
“For a lot of these girls, this season is the first time they’ve ever picked up a racket. So they’re very inexperienced, but they have improved tremendously since the season started. I think the key is that I just want them to have fun, and I want to see them get better,” Scott said.
Xenia is now 3-10 this season. The Buccaneers overall record was 4-12 a year ago, so Scott’s Bucs have a shot at surpassing that mark before the season closes out. Xenia returns to their home courts on Thursday, Sept. 12 to take on Miami Valley League foe Stebbins, at 4:30 p.m.