RAIDERS TENNIS

The Raiders tennis team held court Thursday against Fort Walton Beach. Things didn’t fare well, as the Vikings nearly swept the boys’ and girls’ matches.

Two pairings lasted a long, long time. The first was a 9-7 win by Tyler Hymel over Vikings’ Cole Armstrong in the number 1 boys’ singles pairing. They needed extra games – above the eight normally required for the victory.

“Tyler’s a really strong number one (singles player),” said tennis coach Rob Whitley. “Last week, he destroyed his competition. They were over just as fast as they got started. Today, his opponent was good, hung around. (Tyler) made some mistakes.” It was the only victory for the boys. In the remaining four singles’ and both doubles matches, Navarre got skunked.

The second, and longest contest of the day, was when Navarre junior Justine Asman tangled with Kaila Ullrich in the number two girls’ game. Baseline rallies led to long points, but Ullrich finally prevailed 8-6. Navarre’s number three girl, Ashlynn Caffrey finally bowed to her Viking opponent by the same score.

Fort Walton’s number one girls’ player, Rachel Allen, dispatched Navarre’s Mandolin Boylen in just eight games. “She wasn’t beating me; I was beating myself,” Boylen said. “I wasn’t hustling. My forehands weren’t very good. Serves, backhands, nothing was good. “

The top female Raiders’ game assessment lacked bounce, and Allen didn’t find the match-up as easy as the score appears.“I knew going in I’d have to be on my toes a lot, because anytime she gets ‘em (a return of service) in, they’re down the line or cross-court. Her returns, when she got them in, were fantastic. So, I just had to be ready. I served well, and she served well. So, it was a good match.”

The Viking girls went on to sweep all their matches, too.Despite the results on Thursday, Whitley said: “The girls have settled in, and they will be very competitive at district. We’re scrappy.” The coach’s optimism gets tempered when it comes to player availability. The coronavirus pandemic continues to fiddle with his player pool. Boylen has only three singles matches this year – about half of what was scheduled – due to quarantines.

The boys’ team lost its number 2, 3, and 4 players the day of the Fort Walton visit. So, Whitley had to elevate some players to fill those vacancies, while the Vikings were at full strength Thursday.

Navarre’s Arda Johnson stepped up, but struggled, against the Vikings number 2 Cameron Stanford.“I didn’t miss my serve,” Stanford said. “I could place my shots with it really well. It gave me an easy approach shot, and then I closed a lot of the points out at net.”

The Raider tennis team’s next tournament is March 11 at Pace, before a scheduled two-week break.