The season is underway for Panther men’s tennis.
After a successful 2023, finishing second in the Mountain Seven Conference and playing in the state playoffs’ second round, on the week of March 4 Franklin finally returned to action. In a narrow loss to Tuscola and a blowout win over East Henderson, Sammy Gunter’s team began their quest for a conference title.
On Monday, March 4 Franklin dove headfirst into their conference schedule, hosting Tuscola at the Macon County Rec Park for their first home contest of the season. After falling 8-1 to the Panthers in both the rivals’ meetings last year, the Mountaineers looked much-improved in the season opener, winning four of six singles matches on the day.
In the #3 slot, junior Eli Adams played the match of the day for Franklin, losing a hard-fought first set 6-7 (2-7) but winning both the second set (6-2) and the first-to-10-games tiebreak (10-5). At #4, junior Jack Hyatt won a narrow first set 7-5, then cruised to victory in the second set 6-2. At #1, junior Gavin Rinker split his first two sets down the middle (3-6, 6-3), but lost a razor-thin tiebreak 10-8.
“Playing #1, Gavin won the first set 6-3, then the momentum shifted and he lost the second set 3-6,” said Gunter after the match. “In the tiebreaker the Tuscola #1 took a huge early lead so Gavin fought back to 6-8 and had a chance to make it interesting, but his shot missed the mark. Jack had a tough first set but won the second easily, as he has improved his consistency tremendously since last season. Eli had the match of the day, losing the first set in a close tie break, then winning the second set convincingly. In the tiebreaker we got off to a huge lead for the win.”
In doubles, Franklin nearly wrestled the contest back from Tuscola, with Rinker/Adams winning the #1 match 8-5 and Hyatt/Orrin Mynes winning 8-3 at No. 2. The Mounties claimed the #3 match however, earning their all-important fifth win to secure a 5-4 dual team victory.
“In doubles I was pleased with the play of both our #1 and #2 doubles, as we were moving well and placing the ball to give our opponents problems,” said Gunter. “Josiah and Myles played well at times but need more experience, which should happen as the season progresses.”
After the narrow loss to Tuscola, three days later the team returned to the rec park for another conference clash with East Henderson. With only four Eagles on hand, Franklin cruised to several easy victories, including all four singles matches with Adams (#1), Hyatt (#2), Josiah Holt (#3) and Myles Bargmann (#4). East forfeited the final two singles matches to give Franklin a 6-0 lead.
At #1 doubles, the freshman duo of Holt/Bargmann won a hard-fought match, defeating East’s top pair 9-7. Hyatt and sophomore Jonah Brant won 8-3 at #2, giving Franklin an 8-0 dual team victory.
“East was short-handed, so I gave Gavin and Orrin a rest and moved the other guys up a couple of notches,” said Gunter of the blowout conference win. “They responded well and played with a lot of determination and dominated the singles matches. In doubles Josiah/Myles, who are our #3 regularly, tried their hand at #1. They started slowly and were down 1-5, then 3-6 before winning the next 6 out of 7 games to pull out the win. Great comeback.”
After losing some key players from last year during the offseason, multiple young Panthers have been pressed into service, while veterans play in higher slots than they did last spring. As players gain more match experience, Gunter expressed optimism for the team’s outlook in 2024.
“The attitude of this team is really good and they are determined to work and compete hard,” he said. “Though missing some key players off of last year’s team, we will have a successful season with five returners [including] one injured, Brennan, two from the MMS team and two new players. Even though we lost a close tough match against Tuscola to open the season (5-4), we will improve as the season progresses.”