Pikeville, Ky The Lawrence Co. Boys tennis outlast Pikeville 3-2 to win the 15th Region team title at Bob Amos Park.
2024 15th Region Champs
Aiden Mynhier, Alex DeSario, Chase Kendrick, Bus Driver Melissa Perry, Ryland Brady, Blake Maynard, Kaine Musick, Caden Sweeney
The Region champion for tennis in Kentucky this year is determined by playing in a team tournament where each team fields 3 singles players and 2 doubles teams and the team that wins 3 of the 5 matches wins the entire matchup.
The Lawrence County girls played Johnson Central in the finals last week and came up just short of the title.
Lawrence County’s singles player Kennedy Gauze won her match up and the doubles team of Reagan Webb and Elizabeth Browning also winning. The third singles and number 1 doubles for LC came up short. So it all came down to Riley Sammons from LC versus Ivy Young from JC. Young won the first set 6-2. Sammons fought back and won the second set in a tiebreak, 7-6 (7-3). To decide their match, the overall winner, and Region champion, the girls played a super tiebreak where you must win 10 points and win by a 2 point margin. The girls had been playing for over 2 hours and both were exhausted, but somehow Young found not a second wind but a third or fourth wins and made some amazing shots and won the super tie break 10-4 giving Johnson Central the Region title.
Besides the year of Covid, this is only the second time the Lawrence Co. girls have not won the Region since 2011.
The boys Region Championship final was played against host Pikeville.
Coach McClanahan played his three highest ranked boys all in singles. The strategy worked as Chase Kendrick won 6-0, 6-0, Blake Maynard won 6-0, 6-0, and Alex Desario won 6-1, 6-2. Desario was playing with a sore back and he re-aggravated his injury during the first set, but showed tremendous determination to help his team win the title. Both doubles teams (Cayden Sweeney/Aiden Mynhier and Ryland Brady/Kaine Musick) faced strong competition from Pikeville’s boys and both came up short making the final score 3-2 in LC’s favor and giving them their second 15th region title in a row.
The 15th Region had their individual state qualifying tournament this past week.
Each school in the 15th Region was able to send their top 2 singles and doubles entries for boys and girls. The tournament was hosted by Pikeville Independent at Bob Amos Park in Pikeville. All season the average temperature we play in is about 65 degrees. And every year when the region tournament comes out the temperatures seem to raise to the 90’s. This year was no exception and the players had to battle the heat as well as each other. Every entry from Lawrence Co. made it past the first round and into the quarterfinals held later in the day on Saturday. So a lot of players had to sit around for hours in the sweltering heat, trying to stay cool and be ready to play in the heat again. The players pictured below all made it to the semi-finals and qualified for the State tournament in Lexington. The girls doubles team of Reagan Webb and Elizabeth Browning were triumphant over Pikeville in the first round but were routed by Shelby Valley in the second round.
Sisters Riley and Molly McClanahan had little trouble eliminating a duo from Magoffin County, but in the second round they faced the second seed from Johnson Central. The sisters won the first set and lost the second so the match was then decided by a 10 point tiebreak. They fought hard but lost 10-6 in the tiebreak sending JC to the semi-finals. The boys doubles team of Aiden Mynhier and Ryland Brady won their first round match 6-3, 6-3 and then had to face the team that Magoffin Co. sent to the State tournament last year with one of the players standing at 6 foot 6 inches. The height at the net proved to be too hard of an obstacle for the duo from Lawrence, losing in the super tie break 10-5.
Day two the girls singles saw Riley Sammons facing the formidable Clara McNamee from Belfry who has dominated the 15th Region since her 6th grade year. Sammons gave it her all but McNamee was just too talented a foe to upset. 3-time defending singles champion Kennedy Gauze was given the match of the year by fellow senior Makinna Caudill from Magoffin County. The match saw several long rally points and both the first two sets were very evenly played. Gauze was able to fight through the heat and come out victorious in the super tie-break. However, the heat and length of the match thanks to Caudill’s efforts took its toll on Gauze and made it hard for her to cool down and regain her enegy for the finals match nearly 2 hours later. McNamee had terrific ground strokes and made it hard for Gauze to get into a groove. Gauze fought and fought giving it all she had but was outlasted 6-2, 6-4 in McNamee’s favor.
The boys finals saw both Chase Kendrick and Blake Maynard cruise to easy semi finals victories over the Dials brothers from Martin County. Kendrick then used over 120 mph serves to outlast his friend and teammate Blake Maynard to give the freshman his second straight singles title.
State qualifiers and singles finalists. Chase Kendrick (L) and Blake Maynard. Chase was the singles champion.
Singles finalist Kennedy Gauze in her fourth straight finals. She was runner-up this year but won the last three.
Singles semi-finalist Riley Sammons. This is Riley’s first ever trip to State.
Doubles semi-finalists Cayden Sweeney (L) and Alex DeSario. This is the duos second trip to Lexington and State.
The Boys tournament will begin on Tuesday morning in Lexington at the UK Boone/Downing Tennis Complex
The Girls singles tournament will begin Tuesday morning at Berea College and the Girls doubles tournament will be held at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond on Tuesday morning.
The Team championship will begin on Monday June 3rd in Lexington.
Lawrence Co. Coach Joey McClanahan
“ High school tennis tournaments are a series of highs and lows for the coaches. It seems for every thrilling victory there is a crushing defeat. We had 5 of our 8 entries qualify for the state tournament which is more than most coaches can ever hope for, but when your own daughters are involved you feel that sting of defeat a little more. No matter the outcomes, you prepare your kids for the fight and you see them give it everything they have and you can’t help but feel victorious. I have my work cut out for me on the girls side having to replace 4 key seniors, so I will start in a couple weeks giving tennis lessons to next year’s players!.”
“ I was really hoping both our boys and girls would sweep the team titles this year, especially the girls, since this our last year with the amazing talents of Kennedy Gauze and selfishly my daughters Riley and Molly McClanahan were doubles partners. The match up with JC couldn’t have been closer if you tried to design it. Runners-up in this tough region and to an excellent JC squad is nothing to hang your head over. And for the boys, it is an honor to coach such talented and amazing young men. I am so proud of how they played on the court and equally how they handle themselves off the court. The team wanted to make sure they got their picture with the trophy, with our unofficial member of the team, our bus driver Melissa Perry. Trophies on the court mean nothing if you are not a good person off the court. I am blessed with both this year and couldn’t be more proud.”
