Eastern Wayne drops C.B. Aycock tennis
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 8, 2010 1:46 PM
Three previous senior classes at Eastern Wayne departed with regular-season sweeps over county archrival Charles B. Aycock on the prep girls' tennis scene.
The latest senior class is 1-0.
Miller Delbridge, one of five seniors on the 2010 squad, earned the match-clinching point in the Warriors' 8-1 triumph over the Golden Falcons on Tuesday afternoon. Eastern Wayne claimed its ninth straight victory over Aycock and 35th in a row against Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference opposition since 2007.
"I told them to treat it like a State-Carolina game, anything can happen when you're No. 1," said third-year Eastern Wayne head coach Kelly Hoff. "I think they went out pretty strong, all of them. We knew Aycock would not be a pushover. We had to play smart and I thought they did good."
Eastern Wayne (5-3 overall, 3-0 ECC) seized early control in five of six singles matches. Fourth-seeded Joann Talton posted a straight-set shutout over Aycock's Brittany Parrish, while teammate Grace Delbridge dropped one game in a victory at No. 3 singles.
Janielle Daniel and Amber Miller, two of four returning starters, each pulled out a straight-set decision at Nos. 2 and 4, respectively. Sixth-seeded Morgan Jeffreys trailed 4-1 in the opening set, but claimed a come-from-behind 6-4, 6-3 triumph over the Golden Falcons' Misty Edwards.
"I'm very proud of Morgan because that was her first match in the top six," said Hoff. "She was a little nervous at first, but she did a good job of pulling it out. She worked her way into the (starting) lineup in challenge matches last week."
The Delbridge siblings and the second-seeded tandem of Daniel-Talton each collected a doubles point.
Aycock's third-seeded duo of Tiffany Godwin-Caroline Bone edged Miller-Jackie Johnson 8-6.
"Caroline and Tiffany played well together, communicated well and hit some great shots," said Golden Falcons head coach Brad Matthews. "I was very pleased with them. I feel like we could have played better than we did (overall). I don't think we would have won, but we could have played more competitive than we did.
"We had way too many unforced errors and we have to be more consistent, which is the key against a very good team like Eastern Wayne."