JACKSON – Two Eupora tennis teams competed in the Mississippi Tennis Association High School Classic last Saturday at Parham Bridges Tennis Center and one of them went home with a trophy.
“The tournament was a good way to kick off the season,” said coach Randee Jernigan. “It was great seeing them work as a team.”
The tournament could be considered the tennis version of a jamboree. There were 32 teams in seven flights competing at three locations – Parham Bridges, Ridgeland Tennis Center and St. Andrew's Episcopal School. Some schools entered more than one team, including Eupora.
Matches consisted of boys and girls singles, boys and girls doubles and mixed doubles, each one set with a tiebreaker at 5-5. Unique scoring was based on total games won, which also determined standings in flights.
Eupora had an A team, consisting of the top four boys and top four girls, and a B team. Eupora A was first in Flight 4 with 97 games won. Florence had 80, Northeast Jones 79, St. Aloysius 74 and South Pontotoc 67.
The team tied Florence 19-19 and won the other three matches, defeating Northeast Jones 24-19, South Pontotoc 30-10 and St. Aloysius 24-17.
Eupora B was second in Flight 6. Brookhaven won the flight with 90, followed by Eupora 65, South Pontotoc 47 and Florence 41. Eupora lost to Brookhaven 30-10, but had wins against South Pontotoc 29-17 and Florence 25-18.
South Pontotoc spread itself thin with four teams in four different flights.
Eupora’s first regular season match will be next Monday at Winona.
“Looking at our schedule, we have some pretty tough teams we have to face,” Jernigan said. “But with who I have and the amount of effort and the mentality they have, I’m confident that it is going to be a really successful season for us.”
