FALL SPORTS PREVIEW: Rosewood girls' tennis

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on August 17, 2017 6:00 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Rosewood, annually, puts a strong girls' tennis team on the court.

The same is expected this season.

And the Eagles will compete with a new head coach, who -- after some prodding -- agreed to take over a program that's won nine Carolina 1-A regular-season titles since 1999.

The conversation went down something like this:

Previous head coach Alan Cuddington wanted to step away and spend more time playing tennis with his wife, Cynthia. However, he refused to relinquish his position unless one person -- Daniel Baynes -- would take over the program.

"He called me and said 'I want to let girls' tennis go, but I don't want to let it go unless you're going to take it,'" Baynes said. "I said 'Alan, I don't want to take it from you.'"

Cuddington quickly answered.

"Well, it's not like that," he said. "If I'm going to stop doing it, I want you to start doing it."

RHS athletics director followed up Cuddington's call and encouraged Baynes to take the position. And rightly so. Baynes is proven coach -- three Carolina 1-A championships in boys' golf and two league crowns in boys' tennis.

One condition remained.

It had to be a family affair. Baynes' wife, Jennifer, played for Debbie Bailey. And he's employed his two boys, Daniel (DB) and Benjamin (Benja), to chase loose balls that bounce over the fence and serve as water boys.

"I think it's going to be real fun," Baynes said.

Rosewood filed a 5-3-1 worksheet and lost to Chatham Central in second-round play of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A dual-team playoffs a year ago. Three seniors graduated.

Three of the top six are back.

Faith Baker, says Baynes, is the lock at No. 1 seed. But the senior plans to graduate in December and has registered for courses at Wayne Community College. Lintner should hold down the No. 2 seed for the second straight season. Kiandra Taylor, who found some grit and determination in her game, has almost solidified a spot among the top four.

"I'm really hoping that Faith can come back this year and play with us because she would really help us out a whole lot," Baynes said. "(But) we do have a group of girls who are still strong and experienced. Kiandra is a wonderful athlete and she took up the game a little bit later than the other girls."

As Baynes runs the roster through his head, he stops at Emily Kornegay. The junior has worked out with him this summer and observed her dedication to improve her style of play. There's also sophomore Lexi Clucas, who has shown some growth during the offseason.

In total, 16 girls are on the team.

Baynes didn't cut any players. When he took over the boys' program, he enlisted a large corps of underclassmen and diligently worked with them so they could step into starting roles when the seniors began to graduate.

"Hopefully, they'll learn the skills, get better and then we can just plug them (into the lineup)," Baynes said. "All summer, I've worked out with these players on Mondays and Wednesdays. Some of those days I was worn out by noon because of the heat. It's a lot of fun."

Always a strategist who picks his wife's brain, Baynes devised four goals -- play smart, exploit the opponent's weakness, use all areas of the court and terminate the point quickly -- to help Rosewood play economical tennis this fall.

That four-part plan will undoubtedly continue the tradition established by his predecessors -- Cuddington, Clifton Greenup, Bailey and Bert Perkins. Perkins guided Rosewood to the state 1-A dual-team final in 2002.