Owls rise to 14-0 with region title

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Ooltewah senior Bryson Lype knew that he and his Owls teammates were not entitled to anything Friday, so even though they were hosting their Region 3-AAA championship match against Cookeville and were favored, they still had to earn it.

They took only 90 minutes to do it.

The Owls secured the region team championship with a 4-1 victory over Cookeville and will host the Region 4-AAA champion next week.

Lype, his brother Braden, Kyle Molhusen and Richard Huynh won singles matches for the Owls (14-0).

"We didn't want to go out there with the type of attitude that we were entitled to anything," Bryson Lype said.

The brothers earned the first two victories, and then Huynh overcame a late injury to claim his win. Molhusen won the tightest match, defeating Cookeville captain John Gleason 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Bryson Lype, the school valedictorian, said the hardest part of a team match is having to watch his teammates play.

"You feel like a parent sometimes," he said. "You want it so bad, but you have to have faith and confidence that they're going to do their best and get the job done."

The team had a mild celebration after the victory.

"We still have work to be done," Ooltewah coach Ken Buchanan said. "We did enough to win today, and everybody learned something today. If we can continue to do that, they can grow as players."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

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