Panther men’s tennis will compete in the postseason.
At the Mountain Seven Conference Tournament April 24-25, Gavin Rinker and doubles pair Jack Sgro/Mica Jacobs placed among the top four entrants in their brackets, punching their tickets to the 3A West Regional in Hickory May 5-6. Between Regionals and the first round of the Dual Team State Playoffs May 3, Sammy Gunter’s squad has a busy week of tennis ahead.
On Monday, April 24, the conference’s 42 best players gathered at the Macon County Rec Park for its annual tournament, hosted this year by FHS. By way of their 6-3 record in the conference, Sgro and Jacobs earned the No. 1 seed and a bye in the tournament’s first round, awaiting the results of North Henderson’s Ryan Garcia/Jaime Galarza (ranked eighth out of 14) and Smoky Mountain’s Alex Rodriguez/Zeke Sink (ranked ninth). While the pair from North Henderson emerged from Round 1, their victory was short-lived, falling 6-0; 6-0 to the Panther sophomores in the quarterfinals.
In the other half of the bracket, sophomores Orrin Mynes and Will Sinclair faced a tougher road to the quarters, earning the No. 6 seed after going 5-1 in the conference at Franklin’s Nos. 2 and 3 doubles spots. In the first round, they trounced 11th-ranked Ryan Mooney/Bryce Ferguson of Tuscola 6-0, 6-1, but fell to third-ranked Alex Keever/Mason Pittman of West Henderson 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinal.
In singles, Rinker earned the tournament’s fifth seed by way of an impressive 10-1 record at Franklin’s No. 3 spot. The sophomore cruised through his first-round match, blanking 12th-ranked Corbin Alt of Pisgah 6-0, 6-0. In the quarterfinals, he faced a tough first set with fourth-ranked Bronson Guinn of North Henderson, but completed the upset 6-4, 6-0.
On the other side of the bracket, freshman Conner Baldwin earned the 11th seed after going 7-1 in the conference, primarily at Franklin’s Nos. 5 and 6 spots. In Round 1, the freshman played the match of the day for Franklin, upsetting sixth seed Keegan Kilpatrick of Tuscola by the slimmest of margins; 7-5, 7-6(7-5). Baldwin drew a difficult quarterfinal matchup however, falling 6-0, 6-0 to third-ranked Derek Hinkle of Smoky Mountain.
On Tuesday, April 25, the 12 remaining players returned to the Macon County Rec Park for the final two rounds. As the Mountain Seven is guaranteed four individual berths to both regional tournaments, Tuesday’s action was strictly for seeding purposes and bragging rights for the coming year.
In the singles semifinals, Rinker drew the most difficult matchup in the tournament, facing off with No. 1 seed Drake Gallian of West. Rinker fell 6-0, 6-0 to the eventual tournament champion. In the third-place match, the sophomore drew another difficult matchup in Hinkle. Rinker was unable to avenge Baldwin’s quarterfinal loss, falling 6-1, 6-4 to earn the conference’s No. 4 seed.
In doubles, Sgro and Jacobs drew a surprise opponent in 13th-ranked Reese Shrader/Conner McCrain of West, who had upset the fourth-ranked pair from Pisgah en route to the semifinals. Shrader and McCrain’s run came to an unceremonious end however, as they fell quickly to the Franklin pair 6-0, 6-1.
The tournament’s top two seeds locked horns in the final, as Sgro and Jacobs faced off with Smoky Mountain’s Ben Mathews and William Selby. After splitting their two previous matches this season with the Mustang pair, Sgro and Jacobs prevailed in the rematch, winning 6-0, 6-4 to earn the conference’s No. 1 regional seed.
Following the conference tournament, Franklin prepared for the start of the 3A Dual Team State Playoffs, with brackets scheduled for release after press time May 1. Ahead of the first playoff round May 3 and Sgro, Jacobs and Rinker’s 3A West Regional May 5-6, Gunter said the team would be getting back to basics in practice this week.
“We’re taking tomorrow off so everybody can get some R&R, including me,” said the longtime head coach. “If the weather’s good, we’re out here working on our stuff, because we also have to work for Dual Teams, which will be Wednesday. … We’re just gonna work on basics and make sure we’ve got those pretty solid, and work on net play. We’re better, but we’re not good enough in doubles, and a lot of times it boils down to doubles. In the girls’ season, if they split in singles they almost knew they were gonna win, because they were so strong in doubles. We’re not at that point.”