Tennis makes it 5 straight vs EHS

On a beautiful quiet day at the Forest the racqueteers ventured forth to the crazy bedlam of Parents Weekend at Episcopal to take on the mighty Maroons of Alexandria. As I told the players before the match it was going to be a last man standing type typical nail biter where you had to bring your lunch pail for some back and forth battles. We fell behind early in the 4-3 format (everybody plays at the same time 4 singles and 3 doubles) when Peter Pritchard outgunned Rags Coxe at number 1 singes. Peter has had an outstanding tennis career at Episcopal and always seems to be a little bit better than anyone we can put on the court against him. The tide started to turn towards Woodberry when Rob Galloway won in straight sets at number 2 singles. Needless to say it was a welcome sight to have him back on the courts after his 3 week absence. Woodberry 1 Episcopal 1. Things continued to go well as another clutch senior Billy Hereford prevailed at number 3 singles 6-3, 6-3. Woodberry 2 Episcopal 1. The momentum continue to steam roll on the Tigers behalf when James Kyger and Lat Peak came out firing bullets and playing like defending prep league champions at number 3 doubles. The cagey veterans took complete control of number 2 doubles with a convincing 6-2, 6-2 victory. The good news: Woodberry 3 Episcopal 1. The bad news: We had lost the first set in all of the other three matches. A call went out for reinforcements and the next thing you know EHS swung the tide in their direction. At number 1 doubles Kelvin Whitcher and Faulkner Hereford ran into a strong duo from the High School and lost 6-3, 6-4. Woodberry 3 Episcopal 2. At number 4 singles the other half of the Clement Civil War   -- Johnny "Big Red" Clement had run into the most consistent singles player from his Dad's alma mater and could not quite pull out the victory. Episcopal 3 Woodberry 3. There was a sense of anticipation in the air as all of a sudden Episcopal parents were climbing on roofs to take pictures anticipating a wonderful comeback victory to make up for the football loss in November. Little did they know that Logan Rafield and Henry Dyke were waiting in the trees. Logan and Hank D. came out of the gates a little slow and lost the first set 6-3. Associate Head Coach Clayton Vaughters pulled a few tricks out of his doubles expertise bag and the junior duo kicked it into another gear. When the dust and pollen cleared from a few more 15 mile per hour wind gusts the Tigers had prevailed in the second set 6-2 and the number 3 doubles team from EHS was wondering who are these guys from Glencoe, Illinois and Birmingham, Alabama. So both teams and the ever increasing home town crowd were all packed into the court 8 box seats. The first part of the third set was crucial and the Tiger duo used consistent serves to take a 3-1 lead. Then EHS made a nice comeback to win a close game. It was still anybody's match. Logan really stepped up with a great service game while Hank did a great job at the net to take a 5-3 lead and all of a sudden the Episcopal parents were putting their victory stogies back in the coat pockets to save for graduation in 6 weeks. In the last game Hank showed the first signs of a slight grin and Logan started to wonder what the team score was. (We did not inform him of the magnitude of his victory or defeat) The next thing  you know it was over with a 6-3 third set.       
  When you see some of senior crew that have been involved in varsity tennis over the last 3 or 4 years please congratulate them on the fact that they have never lost to Episcopal. In particular Rob Galloway and Billy Hereford have played significant roles over the past 4 years. Few athletes in any sport at Woodberry can take pride in the fact that they have found way to win all of the close matches against our long time rivals from Alexandria.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Woodberry overall record 5-5