Tennis rolls to perfect season

Published 10:40 am Thursday, October 13, 2016

Nobody has ever seen anything like the Davie tennis team’s regular-season performance, because there had never been anything like it. The War Eagles reached regular-season heaven with a 7-2 home win over Mt. Tabor on Oct. 3. They wrapped up a 14-0 run that included a 10-0 mark in the Central Piedmont Conference.

Among the history-making feats:

• They continued the longest winning streak in the program’s 42-year history.

• They achieved the first regular-season championship in nine years (the 2007 team tied Mt. Tabor for first).

• They notched the fifth regular-season title in history. Davie won North Piedmont Conference titles in 1975, 1976 and 1977.

• Davie has the most wins in nine years (the 2007 team went 16-4).

The match against Tabor was the same soup – just reheated. Laura Becker (6-0, 6-0), Sierra Foster (6-0, 6-0), Jennifer Ngo (6-0, 6-2), Amanda Ngo (6-2, 6-3) and Claire Myers (6-0, 6-1) settled the verdict in singles. In doubles, Davie got lopsided victories from Becker/Foster (8-1) and Annie Kinder/Myers (8-2).

The War Eagles cruised past all 14 opponents in exceptionally impressive fashion, the closest margin being 6-3 on just two occasions.

Becker is 14-0 at No. 1 singles. J. Ngo and Myers are 13-0 at three and six, respectively. A. Ngo is 12-0 at four. Foster and Kinder are 11-3 two and five, respectively. Becker/Foster are 4-0 at No. 1 doubles, while Kinder/Myers are 3-0 at three.

The Tabor match was Senior Night for J. Ngo, Myers, Kinder, Macie Latham, Loren Myers and Shelby Nelson.

“They’ve provided great leadership over these four years,” coach John Bullins said. “Besides being good tennis players, they’re really good students. They all have real important future goals that they are striving hard to achieve. It’s an awesome group. They’re so supportive of each other.”

The senior starters are J. Ngo, C. Myers and Kinder. Bullins showered praise on each.

On J. Ngo: “She hasn’t expressed an interest in playing (in college) to me, but she could very well play in a college program somewhere. Besides being such a wonderful young lady, she is a tough competitor. It’s nice seeing her off the court being such a wonderful student-athlete, and then seeing her on the court turning into a ferocious player.”

On C. Myers: “Claire is a great leader. She’s a sharp young lady. She always knows what’s going on. She’s always well ahead of the game. I was watching an old M*A*S*H show last week, and she reminded me of Radar. She always knows what you’re thinking well before you even express your thought.”

On Kinder: “Annie is a delightful young lady and a good, solid tennis player. She’s very low-key. She kind of slides under the radar, but she’s also a solid competitor on the court. She loves to play – you can tell that – and she’s just a very good all-around athlete.”