CCS duo, Lane fall in semis

Grace’s Schley also wins once before losing in the individual state tennis tournament.

Friday, May 22, 2009


By:
Gene Henley (Contact)

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A little inspiration almost went a long way for Andy Driggans and Will Reynolds.

The Chattanooga Christian tennis doubles tandem wore CCS soccer jerseys, honoring senior captains Lee Wennerstrom and Corey Wilson, in their Class A/AA first-round match Thursday at Old Fort State Park. Reynolds and Driggans defeated Summertown’s Garrett Jennings and Galen Livingston 6-1, 6-0, but lost to defending champions Nick Widmer and Steven Young from Knoxville Catholic in a three-set semifinal.

“I’m a pretty big soccer fan,” said Reynolds, the 2008 state singles champion. “I love to watch the team play, so I had spoke with (CCS principal and soccer coach) Shawn Brower and asked to borrow the jerseys to support a CCS team at state.”

The Chargers also had track competitors and a softball team in Murfreesboro.

“We weren’t going to wear those,” Reynolds said with a laugh. “Soccer jerseys made the most sense.”

He and Driggans won the first set 6-2, lost the second and were up 5-3, 40-love in the third with a chance to finish the match.

“I just didn’t play well,” Reynolds said. “To his credit, Andy played great. I feel that if I had played a little better, we would have won. I’m disappointed, but they played a good match.”

Two Chattanooga-area singles players likewise won first-round matches before losing in the semifinals. In Class AAA, Rhea County’s Kelly Lane beat Munford’s Derek Cross 6-3, 6-0 before falling to Brentwood’s Drake Hernandez 6-3, 6-2, and Grace’s Nathan Schley in A/AA defeated Rockwood’s Derek Lawson 7-5, 6-2 but lost 6-3, 6-4 to Erick Hale of Ezell-Harding.

McCallie’s Chris Schlabach was victorious in the Division II-AA quarterfinals, defeating Evangelical Christian’s Michael Wiseman 6-1, 6-1. McCallie’s Thomas Fanjoy and Sawyer Voges edged teammates Taylor Rogers and Nathan Winters in doubles, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

Baylor’s Aditya Rali and Alex Cooper fell to MUS’s Will Carter and Cliff Guyton, 6-1, 6-2.

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