The Orange High School women’s tennis team was expected to have three games during the short school week after Labor Day weekend. The Monday, September 3 match was canceled against Southern Durham because their school failed to have enough players to make a team. The team then played Chapel Hill High School and Eastern Alamance High School and suffered losses to both teams.
[caption id="attachment_3112" align="alignleft" width="183"]
Kiana Bell serving while practicing with Jessica Scott before their doubles match against Eastern Alamance[/caption]The OHS tennis team did not play Eastern Alamance last year so they were unsure what to expect out of the other team. The match was held on Friday, September 6, and Orange lost 3-6. Michaela Shriner, sixth seed, and Brianna Hales, fourth seed, both won their singles matches. Hales lost the first set 2-6 but won the second set 6-2 and then played a tie breaker winning 10-8. Shriner won her match 6-3, 6-4. Mary Katherine Dougherty and Hales won their second seeded doubles tennis match 8-3 in an eight game pro-set. Leila Andrews, usually fourth seed, and Beth Bryan, usually first seed, were both unable to play due to injuries. This caused players on the team to move up seeds and play against players that were ranked above them, which may have led to the close loss.
The Chapel Hill match was played Wednesday, September 4, and the Panthers lost 1-8. Kiana “Keke” Bell and Bryan won their first seeded tennis match against Lauren Su and Ria Das of Chapel Hill by 8-6 in an eight game pro-set. Chapel Hill easily clenched all six singles matches and the other two doubles matches.
Two matches will be held next week if weather permits. For the the first time the team will play Northwood High School away on Monday,
September 9. The Lady Panthers will take on Webb High School at home on Wednesday, September 11.
This year the team holds an overall record of 1-4. Three new schools have entered the 3A conference. They are Northwood, Southern Durham, and Cedar Ridge High School. All matches start at 4:30 pm unless otherwise noted. With an unusual amount of new players this year the team has roughly 20 players. Coach Andy Brown has split the team into Varsity and Junior Varsity.
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