Panther men’s tennis boasts two of the region’s top pairs.
At the Mountain Seven Conference Tournament April 23-24, Franklin’s top six players competed for individual titles, as well as berths to the 3A West Regionals this Friday. Having claimed two of the conference’s top three doubles seeds, the top four Panthers will vie to qualify for state.
On Wednesday, the team traveled to Western Carolina University. In singles, senior Jack Hyatt and freshman Drew Hodges competed for Franklin, playing a shortened, first-to-eight-games format with rain forecast later that day. Entering as the tournament’s #6 seed, Hyatt drew Smoky Mountain’s William Selby (#3) in round 1, falling 8-1. As the #7 seed, Hodges also drew a tough first-round opponent, falling to Tuscola’s Keegan Kilpatrick (#2) 8-2. The results eliminated both Panthers from tournament contention. As the lone freshman in Franklin’s top six along with five seniors, Hodges has improved steadily throughout the season, and should be the centerpiece of a new-look roster next spring.
As two of the conference’s top pairs this regular season, Gavin Rinker/Eli Adams (#2) and Orrin Mynes/Brennan Cabe (#4) earned first-round byes in the conference doubles tournament. Advancing straight to the quarterfinal round, both pairs made quick work of their opponents.
“Orrin and Brennan’s first-round match was actually a tougher matchup against the Smoky Mountain duo than the score indicates,” said head coach Sammy Gunter. “The very first game Orrin was serving and both teams had several chances to take it until we finally won that. That seemed to demoralize their team and we kept the momentum going by winning more of the crucial points to finish strong.”
Mynes and Cabe wasted little time in their first match, dispatching Smoky’s Winn Custer and Connor Sumner 8-1. With an 8-3 win over West Henderson’s Seth Buttry and Orion Swirczek, Rinker and Adams joined their teammates in the semifinal round. As two of the conference’s top four doubles pairs, the four seniors qualified for the 3A West Regional Tournament at Hickory City Park May 2-3.
“Gavin and Eli played the #1 Pisgah [duo], and we played a strong match against the crafty team to prevail 8-5,” said Gunter. “This was a good win, as they had beaten us on a windy day in our last encounter.”
With a hard-fought win over Pisgah’s Kampbell Kruk and Canyon Conard, who had also earned a first-round bye as the conference’s third-ranked pair, Rinker and Adams advanced to the conference final. In the other semifinal, Mynes and Cabe drew difficult opponents, falling 8-5 to West Henderson’s Spence Thorsland and Connor McCrain.
Both Panther pairs traded opponents for the final round, with Mynes and Cabe battling Kruk and Conard for third, and Rinker and Adams vying with Thorsland and McCrain for first. After heavy rains delayed the round to the following day, both pairs returned to WCU rested and energized.
“Orrin and Brennan played the Pisgah guys and started behind 0-2 before the rains fell, forcing a continuation on Thursday,” said Gunter. “Things got worse as we started up again and we were down 1-4. Though still inconsistent, we clawed our way back to lead 5-4 and were serving to close it out, but too many mistakes allowed them to tie us. Ahead 6-5 we had a chance to close it out but again couldn’t finish it, forcing a tiebreak which we lost 3-7.”
“We started the second set behind again 0-2 before catching some momentum to win 6-3, forcing a full third set to see who would come out on top. We started placing the ball better to set up some winners at net and were ahead 5-3 trying to win on our serve, which didn’t happen. Instead of panicking, our guys became laser-focused and willed their way to pull out the 6-4 win to finish third in the conference.”
After dropping a razor-thin first set 6-7 (7-3), Mynes and Cabe regrouped for sets 2 and 3, prevailing 6-3, 6-4 for a dramatic comeback win. In the conference final, a battle of the tournament’s top two seeds, Rinker and Adams played a similarly hard-fought match.
“Playing for the top spot in conference, Gavin and Orrin were pitted against the #1 West team, who had beaten us 8-0 in our last outing,” said Gunter. “However, our guys came out firing in every phase and played their best match of the year, going toe-to-toe for an hour and a half. Each set was a slugfest with strong serves, returns, powerful ground stokes and massive overheads.”
“The first set was tied at 4-4 before the West duo came out on top. The second set was just as close when we broke their serve at 4-5 to tie at 5-5. The next game was back-and-forth, but we lost, and then the West player came up with some huge serves for their win. Both Gavin and Eli were disappointed as they were so close, but they were also encouraged at how well they played.”
Following a shutout loss in their season finale April 14, Rinker and Adams looked like a different team in the final, falling narrowly 6-4, 7-5. The result locked them into the conference’s #2 seed at regionals, with Mynes and Cabe at #3.
“We travel to Hickory next Friday [May 2] for Regionals, and both our teams are looking forward to the competition,” said Gunter. “I was proud of the fight both groups showed against good competition.”
Following the tournament however, Franklin had more pressing needs to attend to, preparing for the dual team state playoffs’ first round April 28. With an 8-6 overall record this regular season, including a third-place, 8-4 mark in the Mountain Seven, the Panthers earned the #22 seed in the 3A West, traveling to #6 North Iredell after press time Monday.
The Raiders enter the playoffs with a 9-3 overall record, including a second-place, 5-1 mark in the Western Foothills Conference. Iredell’s only conference loss was to #1, 11-1 Hickory, who will host the regional tournament this Friday and Saturday.
The Press will report on Franklin’s first-round contest in next week’s edition.