Panther men’s tennis will be represented at the 3A West Individual Tournament.
On April 24 and 25, the Mountain Seven gathered at Jackson Park in Hendersonville for a two-day conference tournament. In placing third and fourth in the doubles portion, respectively, Orrin Mynes/Brennan Cabe and Gavin Rinker/Eli Adams advanced to the regional tournament in Hickory May 3-4.
After twice rescheduling one of their two conference meetings due to weather, Franklin and East Henderson agreed to play their last regular-season match at the tournament site. There, Sammy Gunter’s team made quick work of the undermanned Eagles.
“We were actually able to squeeze this match in at conference, which saved us an extra trip to Hendersonville,” said Gunter. “[Nos.] 5 & 6 were forfeits, as East only had 4 players. … I adjusted our lineup to make it more competitive against a struggling opponent. I was pleased how our new players have developed this season, which will give us more depth for next year.”
Facing favorable odds against the shorthanded Eagles, Gunter kept several of his top players fresh for the tournament, deploying underclassmen in three of the contest’s four singles matches. At #2, freshman Josiah Holt won narrowly 7-5, with junior Jack Hyatt winning 6-1 at #1 and sophomore Jonah Brant winning 6-0 at #4. Franklin went on to blank the Eagles 6-0 in both doubles matches to claim the dual team victory 5-1.
Despite the win improving their overall record to 5-7, Franklin ended their regular season as the 33rd-ranked team in the region, just one spot shy of a 3A West playoff berth. Earning the 32nd seed was Mountain Seven rival Tuscola, who also finished 5-7 and split two conference contests with the Panthers this spring.
After dispatching East, Franklin turned their attention to the conference tournament, with Hyatt and Holt competing in singles and two pairs competing in doubles. While Hyatt and Holt lost first-round matches to West Henderson Falcons, their teammates found a bit more success in doubles.
“[At] #1 doubles Gavin/Eli won the first match handily against the #1 East duo. In the second round they faced a talented #2 North [Henderson] team, whose quickness and good serving earned them the first set,” said Gunter. “Starting the second set North got off to a quick [start] and had a 5-3 lead on us. That’s when Eli served his best game, with 3 aces and one unreturnable. This seemed to energize our guys and we clawed our way back to 6-6.”
With North just one game away from winning the match, Adams pulled himself and Rinker back from the brink, firing three aces in quick succession to cut their deficit to 5-4. Upon knotting the set 6-6 to force a first-to-seven tiebreak, the veteran juniors stayed cool under pressure.
“Again in the tiebreak we started off slowly and were down 3-6, when the North player missed a point-blank overhead which would have ended the match,” said Gunter. “Given a free pass our guys once again battled back to 6-6, and it was close until we finally pulled out a 10-8 win, forcing a 3rd set. Finally we jumped out quickly to a 3-0 lead and won 6-2. Houdini would have been proud of this escape.”
In snatching victory over North from the jaws of defeat, Adams and Rinker advanced to the semifinal round the following day, and qualified for the 3A West Individual Tournament. Elsewhere on the courts, Mynes and Cabe also traversed a difficult path.
“In the first match we faced the #2 West team, and hit the ball extremely well from the baseline and at the net for a 6-1 win,” said Gunter. “The second set was nip and tuck all the way and we had the lead at 5-4, but couldn’t close it out and sent the set to a tie break, which we lost. The third set was again very close, until at 4-4 we pulled ahead.”
Versus the #2 pair from the 12-0 Conference Champions West, Mynes and Cabe were forced to dig deep for a narrow win. In Round 2, the juniors faced another tough pair from Smoky Mountain, who jumped out to an early lead before some timely strategic adjustments.
“The second match was against the #1 Smoky Mountain duo (#3 overall seed), and we lost a hard-fought battle against their hard hitting serves and strokes,” said Gunter of the first set. “In the second set we changed tactics by mixing some excellent lobs, off-speed ground strokes and better net play, which elicited some mistakes from the Mustang team. Completely frustrated, Smoky Mountain made more and more errors and we ran away to a 6-1 victory in the third.”
With Franklin’s second come-from-behind win of the day, Mynes and Cabe joined Adams and Rinker in the Day 2 semifinal round, and in qualifying for the 3A West Individual Tournament. Making up two of the conference’s four remaining doubles pairs, the next day the juniors faced their stiffest competition yet, dropping their semifinal matches to the #1 pairs from North and West. In so doing Rinker/Adams and Mynes/Cabe were relegated to an all-Panther third place match, where they were forced to battle their teammates for the Mountain Seven’s #3 seed at the 3A West regional.
“Our guys were then pitted against each other to place either 3rd or 4th in conference,” said Gunter. “In a long, highly-contested contest, Orrin and Brennan eventually prevailed for a 6-4, 7-5 win. I was proud of the effort both teams showed to win this dogfight, and it came down to just a few good shots at the critical moments.”