On Saturday Woodberry tennis finished the job with an outstanding effort in the singles final. We won 8 out of 9 matches`on Friday and completely eliminated Collegiate by winning all 5 matches against them.  Saturday the challenge was the Saints as we had 6 out of our 9 matches against them. We had a slim 2 point lead over St. Chris going into the singles finals on Saturday. All of our friends in red were expecting a championship as they brought out their Saints flag just for the occasion at the tennis pavilion. Little did then know that 8 guys from Woodberry had every intention of spoiling the party. We took the court with 5 guys in black and white ready to prove something. Phillip Taylor had already played very well in his 3rd place match to get us off to a good start. The young guns from South Carolina  (Rob Galloway) and Alabama ( Billy Hereford) set the tone early with clutch efforts. Rob was the first off the court with a 6-0, 6-1 victory at number 4 with a Saint player wondering what freight train had just run over him. Billy Hereford was not far behind as he prevailed over another St. Chris player at number 5 by the score of 6-2. 6-2 to win his first prep league title. Then the seniors started to come on like gangbusters. Tommy E. had his second straight first set tiebreaker for maximum drama. On Friday he had dodged 5 set points to upset the number 1 seed from Collegiate. Saturday it was a Saint on his hit list as he won the first set tiebreaker and never stopped rolling with a 7-6, 6-1 victory at number 6 singles. This was Tom's first singles prep league title in 4 years of varsity tennis. Not to be outdone was our other co- captain Daniel Holst from Sheridan Wyoming. He split sets with a Collegiate player and rallied for a 6-4 victory to win his first singles title in 4 years of varsity tennis. What a way for both to finish! We almost won every singles match we played as Sam Funkhouser showed a lot of grit and determination at number 1 singles before losing 6-2, 7-5 to an outstanding number 1 player from St. Chris.

  Doubles gave our other senior Sam Mikell a chance to defend his number 3 doubles title with partner Tom Ellington. In a match that went back and forth throughout, Woodberry found a way to avenge their regular season loss to the Saints by winning 10-8. At number 2 doubles Rob and Billy completed a fabulous first year prep league tournament with a 10-6 victory over Collegiate. We came very close to winning all 3 doubles as Daniel and Phillip led most of the match before losing a close one 10-8.

  We took 8 players to the prep league tournament. For the first time all 8 players earned All Prep recognition. Woodberry had 65 points to beat St. Chris by 9 points. Most of the best coaching advice came from irreplaceable Hamilton Boggs. Is it too late to change your mind and stay at Woodberry?  We also were very fortunate to have several supportive parents who traveled a long way to provide snacks, organize a wonderful Friday night dinner, and watch their boys achieve something special. Lastly it meant a lot to our players to have our athletic director John Thiel congratulating them after big singles victories in the finals. All and all it was a reminder to a coach of just how lucky he is to be working with a great group of  young men in the varsity tennis program!