Tennis -- Aycock knocks off EW

By David Williams
Published in Sports on April 30, 2004 1:56 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Charles B. Aycock played without its No. 1 seed Thursday afternoon and held off confident county rival Eastern Wayne 8-1 in a Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference match.

Danny Fairchild missed the match due to a school-related activity, forcing coach Luke Vail to re-arrange his lineup. He moved everyone up a seed and the two teams played some outstanding matches.

"I thought our players stepped u and played really well considering they played a higher seed than they normally would," Vail said. "Eastern Wayne came in here on a roll and has been playing with some confidence.

"Yesterday was a good test of our character."

David Dodson, Sean Kelly, David Williams, Rich Holder and John Ball each picked up a singles win for Aycock. Kelly outlasted freshman James Arceneaux 6-0, 7-5. Williams survived a first-set tiebreaker against Andrew Smith at No. 4 to win 7-6 (6), 6-2.

Alex Bryant emerged the Warriors' lone winner with a 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 decision against Brandon Howard at the No. 1 slot.

The Golden Falcons (11-6, 9-3 ECC) swept the doubles.

"This has been a big week for us because we've gotten four wins," Vail said. "It's been very productive and our guys are starting to play with confidence. We're playing tactically much more intelligent tennis.

"Hopefully it will carry over into next week."

Aycock travels to Washington next Tuesday and will complete a suspended match against Kinston on Wednesday afternoon. A victory against Kinston assures the Golden Falcons of earning the league's No. 3 seed for the N.C. High School Athletic Association dual-team playoffs, which begin May 11.

All eight ECC teams will participate in the season-ending conference tournament next Thursday morning at Herman Park.

C.B. Aycock 8, Eastern Wayne 1

Singles -- No. 1 Alex Bryant (EW) d. Brandon Howard 6-1, 5-7, 7-5; No. 2 David Dodson (CBA) d. Ben Ziccardi 6-2, 6-2; No. 3 Sean Kelly (CBA) d. James Arceneaux 6-0, 7-5; No. 4 David Williams (CBA) d. Andrew Smith 7-6 (6), 6-2; No. 5 Rich Holder (CBA) d. John King 6-1, 6-3; No. 6 John Ball (CBA) d. Chris Musser 6-0, 6-1.

Doubles -- No. 1 Howard-Kelly (CBA) d. Bryant-Ziccardi 8-1; No. 2 Williams-Ball (CBA) d. Arceneaux-King 8-3; No. 3 Dodson-Holder (CBA) d. Smith-Musser 8-0.