It may very well be Justin Webb’s most experienced team since he became the Orange women’s tennis coach, and they’re playing like it.
Orange is 4-0, 1-0 in the Big Seven Conference after a sweep of Southeast Alamance in Graham on Monday night. In addition to winning all nine matches against the Stallions, Webb got to play 12 different players. At #1 singles, Molly Kruse won 6-0, 6-0, her seventh overall victory of the season. Oakley Gaddy, Kyla Mehl, Adelyn Alvis, and Evelyn Gover also earned singles wins. Sophomore Cadence Sayed picked up her first-ever varsity win at #6 singles.
In doubles action, senior Casey Robinson and junior Lucy Frank won 8-3. Samantha Gover and Cady Jones, both sophomores, won at #2 doubles 8-4. Freshman Emery Kruse and sophomore Davia Coyle completed the sweep with a 8-0 win at #3 doubles.
The Orange women’s tennis team became the first squad in any sport to play in an event in the new Big Seven Conference last Wednesday. The Lady Panthers defeated crosstown rival Cedar Ridge 9-0 at Mebane Community Park.
The tightest match of the night was at #2 singles where Orange junior Ellie Wilson defeated Terra Proctor 6-2, 2-6, 10-6 in a 10-point, third set tiebreaker. At #4 singles, Robinson was pressed into a second set tiebreaker against Cedar Ridge freshman Lydia Bordelon. Robinson won 6-3, 7-6 (8-6).
Mason, Kruse, Gaddy, and Mehl all won singles matches for Orange against the Red Wolves.
Mason and Kruse won at #1 doubles 8-2. At #2 doubles, Wilson and Gaddy prevailed 8-1. Mehl and Alvis finished the sweep with a 8-1 win.
It was a noteworthy week for Orange tennis in many respects. As mentioned last week, Webb won his 200th career match in Orange’s 5-4 victory over Western Alamance in Elon. All eight matches had finished, but Mehl’s match against Morgan Cook at #5 singles kept going and going long after everyone else had finished. In all, it turned into a three-hour and 15-minute marathon that Cook won 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 10-7, the last match of a long and humid but victorious night.
