St. Al tennis smokes district rival ACCS

Published 8:30 pm Monday, March 20, 2023

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St. Aloysius' Noah Taylor prepares to serve during a boys' doubles match against ACCS on Monday. Taylor and his partner Ryan Davidson defeated Wanderlei Griffin and Caleb Daugherty 6-1, 6-2. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Hendrix Eldridge returns a shot during a girls' singles match against Adams County Christian School's Phoebe Hale on Monday. Eldridge won 6-0, 6-0. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Olivia Larsen hits a shot during a girls' doubles match against Adams County Christian School on Monday. Larsen and her partner Sarah Beth Johnston beat Emma Massey and Allie Lindsey 6-1, 6-0. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Noah Taylor hits a shot during a boys' doubles match against ACCS on Monday. Taylor and his partner Ryan Davidson defeated Wanderlei Griffin and Caleb Daugherty 6-1, 6-2. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

ACCS' Wanderlei Griffin follows through on a shot during a boys' doubles match against St. Aloysius on Monday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Noah Taylor and Ryan Davidson walk off the court after beating ACCS' Wanderlei Griffin and Caleb Daugherty 6-1, 6-2 in a boys' doubles tennis match Monday at Halls Ferry Park. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Ryan Davidson hits a shot during a boys' doubles match against ACCS on Monday. Davidson and his partner Noah Taylor defeated Wanderlei Griffin and Caleb Daugherty 6-1, 6-2. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius’ tennis team put in a quick day’s work Monday against district rival Adams County Christian School.

The Flashes only dropped one set and won four matches without losing a game as they routed ACCS 9-0 at Halls Ferry Park. St. Al won for the fourth time in five team matches this season.

“We’re still trying to figure out our lineups, but for the most part we’re where we want to be at,” St. Al coach Rick Shields said.

Several St. Al players remained undefeated against district opponents. The list included the No. 1 boys’ doubles team of senior Noah Taylor and sophomore Ryan Davidson, who defeated Wanderlei Griffin and Caleb Daugherty 6-1, 6-2.

“I feel like we played pretty good against them. We played as best we could. They were not half-bad. They had a lot of energy,” Taylor said. “I think the whole team is doing amazing. I hope it keeps up like this.”

The No. 2 boys’ doubles team of Walker Lambiotte and James Powell beat Aiden and Murphy Roché 6-0, 6-0.

In girls’ doubles, St. Al’s No. 1 team of Ali Blackburn and Carrie Woods beat Camren Strittman and Reagan Rabb 6-0, 6-1, while the No. 2 team of Sarah Beth Johnston and Olivia Larsen won 6-1, 6-0 against Emma Massey and Alli Lyndsey.

In girls’ singles, Julia Tuminello and Hendrix Eldridge both won 6-0, 6-0 against Addison Massey and Phoebe Hale, respectively.

Walker Moore also beat Alex Pollard 6-0, 6-0 in No. 2 boys’ singles. At the No. 1 position, Caleb Stewart defeated John Tyler Luneau 6-0, 6-1.

The only close match was in mixed doubles, where St. Al’s Laiken Leist and Carter Smithhart went to a tiebreaker to win 3-6, 6-4, 10-7.

St. Al will go on the road Thursday for another district match against Madison-St. Joe, in Madison at 3:30 p.m.

“That’ll be a test for us,” Shields said. “We beat them last year, but it was close — and it’ll be close again.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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