Disappointment is setting in for Eupora tennis coach Randee Jernigan perhaps even more than her own players.
The coach has seen hard work for years for players like Grant Frank, Garrett Crimm, Gracie Burton and Madison Goodrom. They had prepared themselves for one big final run for the Eagles and that appears to have been taken away from them in an instant thanks to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. Monday would have marked the rematch between the Eagles and rival East Webster after they lost a tough 4-3 match earlier this year to the Wolverines.
“It was kind of a bummer and I hate it for the seniors. We had a lot of high hopes,” Jernigan said. “Any time you play tight matchups it can go either way on any given day and we were looking forward to playing East Webster again. Having to lock up the courts to be safe has been hard on them. We’ve had so many beautiful days after it was rainy for so long before all of this. All of a sudden they went from doing everything they could to get better to not doing anything.”
The Eagles had started the year 2-1 with wins over Pisgah 7-0 and Neshoba Central 6-1. It was a team that Jernigan has been excited to watch grow.
Even with the loss of the match to the rival Wolverines, Jernigan had already seen a significant jump from where the tennis team was a year ago.
“Things were going really well,” Jernigan said. “I’m a numbers person and the growth that we’ve had from that standpoint is huge. We were looking good and the seniors were great leaders for us. They’ve been a bunch that’s been self-invested and they’ve wanted to push themselves to get better and learn new things.”
The loss of the season hurts for the seniors especially but Frank and Crimm are already signed to play tennis on the college level at Meridian Community College and East Central CC respectively. Frank was a standout in singles action and Crimm in doubles while Gracie Burton was starring in girls doubles and Goodrom in singles.
While the loss of that core senior group is going to be tough to swallow, Jernigan is developing a program that looks built to last.
“I’ll have eight of my 12 on varsity still there and my young ones coming up are going to be stronger than the ones in the past,” Jernigan said. “They have the ability to play up in varsity within a year or two. I want us to keep playing without us missing a beat. I know the strength of those coming up and they look good.”
