TENNIS: Host Tigers capture Salem Tournament

Taking first place for the Tigers were the team of senior JJ Smith/junior Braiden Gapsch in Doubles Flight 1 and senior Kaison Wilmont/sophomore Linkyn Atkinson in Doubles Flight 2. Both Tiger doubles tandems finished with 3-0 records.

In singles competition, Salem junior Blayne Canaday finished 1-2 in Flight 1 while senior Emmett Headrick finished 2-1 and took second place overall in Flight 2.

“It was a close tournament,” said Salem coach Will Hubbs. “It came down to the last three matches on court. Emmett was playing Houston and Kaison/Linkyn were also playing a team from Houston. The Mountain Grove No. 2 doubles team was on against Licking, and we had to win both matches after Grove beat Licking. Kaison/Linkyn won a tight, 9-7 match to take first in their flight, but the real hero was Emmett; he was our MVP on the day. He played in the No. 2 singles. He is our regular No. 4 singles player and all the other schools put their top two players in singles. This means Emmett was playing all of the actual No. 2-ranked players from their school. Earlier in the day he won a match over Licking in a tiebreaker after getting down 3-0. Then at the end of the day he got down 4-1, but calmly stayed focused and pushed it to being down 7-6. After that, he won the next three games and gave us the tournament win with a 9-7 victory.

“Overall, we played our best tennis so far this year. Blayne faced the other schools’ No. 1 players and held his own – he is our No. 3. No one even came close to beating JJ/Braiden, and Kaison/Linkyn played awesome. It was a good tournament.”

Also in dual meets last week, Salem lost at home to Waynesville 9-0 Monday, April 7 and won at Mountain Grove 7-2 Friday, April 11.

This week the Tiger netters were slated to host Rolla Monday, play at Willow Springs Tuesday, play at Licking Thursday and host both Willow Springs and Houston Friday.

Here are the results, with the Salem players listed first:

April 11: Salem 7, Mtn. Grove 2 – Singles: JJ Smith beat Erecka Penner, 8-4. Braiden Gapsch beat Cooper Mitchell, 8-4. Blayne Canaday beat Phillip Fry, 8-4. Emmett Headrick beat Trygg DeVries, 8-4. Kaison Wilmont lost to Hunter Pope, 8-5. Linkyn Atkinson beat Emma Schrock, 8-1. Doubles: Smith/Gapsch beat Penner/DeVries, 8-2. Canaday/Headrick lost to Mitchell/Fry, 8-6. Wilmont/Atkinson beat Pope/Schrock, 8-3.

April 7: Waynesville 9, Salem 0 – Singles: Smith lost to Tobias Huckaba, 8-3. Gapsch lost to Jashon Hamilton, 8-5. Canaday lost to Elvin Esguerra, 8-3. Headrick lost to Logan Giles, 8-2. Wilmont lost to Ace Long, 8-4. Atkinson lost to Grey Landreth, 8-2. Doubles: Smith/Gasch lost to Huckaba/Giles, 8-3. Canaday/Headrick lost to Hamilton/Esguerra, 8-3. Wilmont/Atkinson lost to Long/Brode Evans, 8-5.