Published: May 16, 2008 11:05 am            

Corbin in good shape to capture both boys and girls region crowns

By Les Dixon

Sports Editor

Today could be a big day for Corbin tennis.

Corbin’s Lance Freeman will try to move a step closer to his third straight regional title today against Knox Central’s Andrew Abner, while teammates Taylor Jones, Lee Crawford, Brody Freeman, Nick Huff and Chris Goins will try to win their respective matches, while inching closer to the Redhounds’ eighth consecutive regional team championship.

“Lance Freeman set a goal at the beginning of the season to win a third regional singles title,” Corbin coach Curt Hart said. “He has been extremely focused during the season and he is going to give a 100 percent effort during every point played during the 2008 tournament.”

Hart also likes the chances of Jones, who came into the tournament as the No. 5 seed. Jones advanced to the finals of the regional singles tournament last season.

To advance to the semi-finals, Jones will square-off against South Laurel’s Blake Walden, who is the No. 3 seed.

“Watch out for the underdog,” Hart said. “Taylor was the No. 5 seed in 2006 and 2007 and made it to the finals both years.

“His level of play and confidence has improved tremendously when compared to earlier in the season,” he added. “He has the potential to be in the singles finals on Saturday. Losing to the higher seeds during the season has made Taylor work harder and his main goal is to avenge those loses in the quarterfinals and semi-finals.”

It’s not going to be easy, though.

Walden has put together a solid season and will be hard to beat.

“Blake started slowly after receiving a first round bye and having to wait over 10 hours to play his first match,” South Laurel coach Aaron Smallwood said. “But he was very competitive, as usual, and still managed to win every game. He will have a tough match with Taylor today.”

In other singles action, Whitley County’s William Tan will face-off against Harlan’s Jacob Stoffle with the winner facing Lance Freeman or Abner, while Whitley County’s Danny Butcher plays No. 2 seed Akash Patel from Harlan.

In doubles play, Corbin’s Brody Freeman and Lee Crawford plays Knox Central’s Sturdivant and Abner.

“They are showing a great deal of confidence on the court and this has allowed them to play an aggressive doubles game,” Hart said.

The winner of that match will face-off against either North Laurel’s Alex Douglas and Max Swartz or Middlesboro’s Akers/Uy.

“Max and Alex advanced to Friday’s action by winning two tight matches,” North Laurel coach Bobby Smith said. “They are now 4-0 this season in three-set matches. Simply put, they’re winners. They just find a way to win, and I’m really happy for them to be in the quarterfinals. We now play the No. 4 seed from Middlesboro and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Corbin’s Nick Huff and Chris Goins have a solid chance to advance against Clay County’s Neeley and Carmack.

“Both are very good athletes and this is only their second year of high school tennis,” Hart said. “They will be facing a good Clay County team, but if they serve well and stay aggressive at the net, then they could upset the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds, respectively.”

North Laurel also has another doubles team (Gil Bagang and James Montgomery) hoping to advance in semifinal action against South Laurel’s Derek Turner and Mason Smith.

“Derek and Mason really struggled in the first set — they picked it up a little after that but they didn’t play their best at any point of the match,” Smallwood said of Turner and Smith’s 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win Tuesday. “We were fortunate to win against a good Bell County doubles team. Our guys will have to play much better to compete with Gil and James today.”

Smith said Bagang and Montgomery will be ready for today’s match.

“We have Smith and Turner up next for a place in the semis and I know we’ll be ready,” he said. “They’re another dangerous team that stands in the way of our dream and we’ll need to play well.”

Heading into today’s action, Corbin is in first place with eight points, while Middlesboro (five points), North Laurel (five points), South Laurel (five points), Knox Central (four points) and Whitley County (four points) are in the hunt for the region team championship.

“It will be difficult for anyone to catch Corbin,” Smallwood admitted. “It would probably take Blake getting to the singles final or Derek and Mason upsetting James and Gil for us to get a team second place.”

On the girls’ side, 2006 singles champion Jessica Baker (Knox Central) finds herself two wins away from another singles title, but will have to defeat Clay County’s Mallory Garrison to reach the semi-finals.

Corbin’s Morgan Freeman is still alive, along with Middlesboro’s Natile Dubin, Belinda Patton, 2007 singles champion Emily Crawford (Middlesboro), South Laurel’s Lyndsay Collette and Clay County’s Sarah Burchell.

“Lyndsay played well in her first match of the tournament,” Smallwood said. “She dominated the match from the beginning and never gave (Anna) Tanner a chance.

“I’m glad she got off the court quickly — she has a tough match with the No. 2 seed, Sarah Burchell, today and if she were to get by that one, she’d play the defending region champion, Emily Crawford,” he added.

In doubles action, the seeds one through six remain alive.

Clay County’s Smith/Gray will face-off against North Laurel’s Mikaela and Makenzie Prichard.

“We’ll definitely have to play better to compete against them and I think we will,” North Laurel coach Bobbie Smith said. “If we play our best, we can make things interesting.”

Corbin’s Melanie Head and Sydney Ledington will face-off against Whitley County’s Sweet/Patrick, while South Laurel’s Brianna Smith and Emily Abner will play Whitley County’s Bryant/Paul.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how we play against Whitley County’s team on Friday,” Smallwood said. “Their team beat Emily and Brianna pretty easily during the regular season, but I think our girls would agree that it was the worst match they played this year. Whitley County has a talented team, but we are capable of winning this match if we play well.”

Corbin’s Bailee and Nikki Freeman will face-off against Middlesboro’s Maiden/Goodman to round out the doubles quarterfinals action.

Corbin and Middlesboro is tied for first place with seven points apiece in the overall team standings, while South Laurel (six points), Clay County (five points) and Whitley County (four points) round out the top five.

“Being only one point behind after the first two rounds is a good showing for us,” Smallwood said. “But the tournament isn’t over and I know that our the girls that are still playing, will do everything they can to win every match this weekend.”

        

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