BRIDGEPORT – The Buckhannon-Upshur Lady Buc tennis team is off to a 1-1 start to the season and was just an eyelash away from being a perfect 2-0.
The Lady Bucs hosted Robert C. Byrd last Thursday and won a 6-1 event before traveling to Bridgeport on Saturday where they faced John Marshall and lost a narrow 4-3 decision.
Against Robert C. Byrd, the Lady Bucs won at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles as Madelyn Frye and Mya Critchfield won at No. 2 and Cate O’Neill and Alexis Wuchner won at No. 3.
Buckhannon-Upshur swept singles action as Tori Adams at No. 1, Lainey Rowan at No. 2, Frye at No. 3 and Critchfield at No. 4 were all victorious.
“I was overall happy with our girls’ performance,” said Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Jason Rock. “Honestly we should have won the one match we lost. Tori and Lainey were up a few games and let the RCB girls get back in it. Tori and Lainey both weren’t satisfied with the loss in doubles so they made sure to make up for it in their singles matches. It was great to see some competitive fire in them.”
In their outing with John Marshall, the Lady Bucs went up 2-1 after doubles action with the team of Frye and Critchfield winning at No. 2 and O’Neill and Wuchner winning at No. 3.
The lone singles win for B-U was Critchfield at No. 4.
Rowan and Frye were oh so close to wins dropping a pair of 9-7 decisions.
“All the matches were all pretty competitive,” noted Rock. “Madelyn and Lainey in singles fought really hard but just couldn’t come up with the final game to send their matches to tiebreakers. I’m excited for when we go up to John Marshall because I think Lainey and Madelyn will be ready to flip the script on those singles matches. Cate and Alexis played a great match to win their match at No. 3 doubles in a tiebreaker and Mya played a solid match at No. 4 singles to stay undefeated so far on the season.
The Lady Bucs were slated to meet Wheeling Park on Monday.
They will visit University on Tuesday and then host Lewis County on Wednesday.
The results:
Buckhannon-Upshur 6 Robert C. Byrd 1
Singles
No. 1 – Tori Adams (B-U) def. Amanda Gamble, 8-3
No. 2 – Lainey Rowan (B-U) def. McKenna Lucas, 8-5
No. 3 – Madelyn Frye (B-U) def. Alexis Spurlock, 8-3
No. 4 – Mya Critchfield (B-U) def. Laiah Lathon, 8-2
Doubles
No. 1 – Gamble and Lucas (RCB) def. Adams and Rowan, 9-7
No. 2 – Frye and Critchfield (B-U) def. Spurlock and Lathon, 8-3
No. 3 – Cate O’Neill and Alexis Wuchner (B-U) def. Ava Starkey and Sophie Wagoner, 8-3
John Marshall 4 Buckhannon-Upshur 3
Singles
No. 1 – Lily Roman (JM) def. Tori Adams, 8-3
No. 2 – Faith Wachter (JM) def. Lainey Rowan, 9-7
No. 3 – Alaina Kaniecki (JM) def. Madelyn Frye, 9-7
No. 4 – Mya Critchfield (B-U) def. Lila Roman, 8-4
Doubles
No. 1 – Roman and Wachter (JM) def. Adams and Rowan, 8-2
No. 2 – Frye and Critchfield (B-U) def. Brooklyn Davis and Roman, 8-4
No. 3 – Cate O’Neill and Alexis Wuchner (B-U) def. Kaniecki and Emily Suarez, 9-8 (8-6 tiebreaker)