Flashes send six players to state tennis tournament

Published 5:17 pm Tuesday, April 16, 2024

St. Aloysius held serve at the MAIS Class 5A South State tennis tournament on Tuesday.

Six St. Al players — two in singles and two doubles teams — advanced to the finals in their brackets, which sent them on to the state tournament April 25 in Ridgeland.

St. Al’s Walker Moore and Carrie Wood won the mixed doubles championship, while the boys’ doubles team of Ryan Davidson and Caleb Stewart, and singles players Michael Moore and Hendrix Eldridge all lost in the finals. The Flashes also won the boys’ team championship.

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Moore and Wood started their championship run in mixed doubles by beating Brookhaven Academy’s Levi Dale and Ava Calcote 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals.

That sent them to the finals, where they grinded out a tough 7-6, 6-4 win against Parklane Academy’s Colin Doyle and Ruth Lindsey.

In No. 2 girls’ singles, the freshman Eldridge won 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals, but couldn’t crack Parklane’s Anistyn Henderson in the last round.

Eldridge and Henderson played a number of long points during their match, and Henderson wound up winning more of them to prevail 6-2, 7-5.

“We had a lot of long points and she had some shots I couldn’t get to. But overall, she was just a really good player. It was a good match,” Eldridge said.

In No. 2 boys’ singles, Michael Moore cruised past Parklane’s Authur Bishop 6-1, 6-2 in his first match before losing to Providence Classical’s Judson Lenert 6-0, 6-1 for the championship.

Although he didn’t win, Moore was happy with his day. Only a seventh-grader, he advanced to the state tournament in his first varsity season.

“It’s good. All the practice paid off, so I’m happy,” Moore said.

St. Al’s No. 2 boys’ doubles team of Davidson and Stewart won a competitive match, 6-4, 6-4 against Parklane’s Kirk Gibbes and Kasen White in the semifinals, but came up short in the final round.

Brookhaven Academy’s Noah Fisher-Butler and Cooper Strickland defeated St. Al’s duo 7-5, 6-4.

In other brackets, St. Al’s No. 1 girls’ doubles team of Sarah Beth Johnston and Olivia Larsen lost a competitive match to Brookhaven Academy’s sister duo of Annaston and Swayze Poole, 7-6, 6-3 in the semifinals.

The Poole sisters went on to beat Cathedral’s Lacie Welch and Graci Gamberi 7-6, 6-1 for the championship.

In No. 1 boys’ doubles, Walker Lambiotte and James Powell also lost in the semifinals, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 against Parklane’s Henry Gibbes and Jax Rayborn.

Gibbes and Rayborn went on the win the championship match in straight sets.

St. Al will go on the road for next week’s state tournament, but Halls Ferry Park will stay busy with postseason tennis in its absence.

The facility will host the MAIS District 4-3A tournament featuring Porter’s Chapel Academy on Wednesday. And then, from April 22-24, it will be the site of the MHSAA Class 4A, 6A and 7A individual state tournaments.

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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