MURFREESBORO, Tenn.- A year after advancing to the Class A/AA boys’ tennis singles state title match, Hixson’s Alex Condra is back in 2016.
Only this time he brought a friend and teammate with him.
Condra and Richard Vuong won their way to this morning’s doubles state final at Adams Tennis Center. They will face Christian Academy of Knoxville’s Reed Bristow and Ethan Fussell at noon EDT.
The Hixson pair needed a third-set tiebreaker to get by Notre Dame’s Andrew Lisy and Nick Coronis, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), but they had a much easier time with Cam Presley and Will Richardson of Trinity Christian. Condra and Vuong won the semifinal 6-2, 6-2.
Entering the tournament, they felt good about their chances to play in the final if they could get past Lisy and Coronis, whose Irish team advanced to the team state semifinals earlier in the week.
“Once we got our confidence up from winning that first match, we stayed up there,” Vuong said.
Boyd-Buchanan junior Christina Amos lost in the quarterfinals last season but advanced to the semifinals before losing to Trinity Christian’s Lindy Tatum 6-4, 6-4. The Lady Bucs junior needed a second-set tiebreaker to defeat Christ Presbyterian Academy’s Emily Enoch in the quarterfinals.
“That was awesome. Give God all the glory because my first match was about to go to a third set and I didn’t think I could make it a third set,” Amos said. “It was my goal to do better than last year, so I’m proud of myself, but I can do better. I need to build my stamina over the year, come back and hopefully do better.”
Hixson’s Carl Phillips fell 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) to Page’s Isaiah Polk in the A/AA singles quarterfinals. Notre Dame’s Sarah Faith Ingell and Mary Margaret Haywood fell 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to Greeneville’s Ellie Pectol and Sydni Lollar in doubles.
In Class AAA, Soddy-Daisy’s Olivia Crawley lost 6-2, 6-0 to Brentwood’s Somer Henry in singles, and East Hamilton’s Avalon Langley and Meghan Gallups fell 6-2, 6-0 to Houston’s Kelly Carney and Menzie Montgomery in the doubles quarterfinals.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.