French Camp finished third out of five teams in its flight at the Mississippi Tennis Association High School Classic two weeks ago at Parham Bridges Tennis Center.
“It was a good start for us,” said coach Larry Mincher. “The kids were little nervous being the first time out. We have some things to work on, But overall I'm pleased with the effort and the play.”
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.
Matches consisted of boys and girls singles, boys and girls double 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.
French Camp, a 1A school, was in Flight 5 with four larger schools, 6A West Harrison, 5A New Hope, 4A West Lauderdale and 3A South Pontotoc. New Hope won the flight with 103 games, followed by West Lauderdale 96, French Camp 85, West Harrison 70 and South Pontotoc 45.
South Pontotoc’s talent was spread thin with four teams competing in four different flights.
French Camp defeated South Pontotoc 30-11 and West Harrison 24-18, but lost to New Hope 30-13 and West Lauderdale 26-13.
A standout for French Camp was Grace Ann Wade. After playing in three basketball games in four days at the 5-1A tournament last week, she was 3-1 in girls singles. Others who competed for French Camp were Ruthie Storment, Raney Peacock, McKinley Wade, Cayley Tiller, Cameron McDaniel, Josh Miller, Brennan McGlothin and Jeffrey Jones.
French Camp is the defending champion of Region 3 for 1A and 2A schools.
The French Camp tennis team won two matches at Forest last Saturday, defeating Neshoba Central 6-1 and the host team 5-2.
“We had a good day,” Mincher said
Grace Ann Wade won both girls singles matches. Seven players wee two-time winners in doubles – McKinley Wade, Raney Peacock and Cayley Tillers in girls doubles, Jeffery Jones, Jacob Creswell, Brady Peacock and Brennan McGlothin in boys doubles.
“We had a bunch of doubles winners, Mincher said. “We have a strong set of girls this year. I lost five boys from last year, They're doing pretty well for losing five starters.”
French Camp played Leake Central Tuesday and has a home match with Noxubee County Thursday,
