The job isn't finished yet, but the Carolina Forest boys tennis team took a major step toward winning a region title on Wednesday.
The Panthers traveled to St. James for a battle of two red-hot programs 鈥 both of which had yet to drop a region match heading into the night.聽
Carolina Forest rolled through singles play with four wins in five matches and then won both doubles matches to secure the 6-1 victory against the Sharks.
鈥淎ny time you play a really good team like St. James and come away with a win, it鈥檚 good for your team,鈥 Carolina Forest head coach Shane Dular said after the match. 鈥淭hey are a fantastic program with some really good players.鈥
Panthers' No. 3 singles player Chris Rutenburg returns a lob shot from the Sharks' Jordan Kirk in the first set of the match Wednesday at St James.
The win puts Carolina Forest in a strong position to win the region, but that isn鈥檛 locked up quite yet.聽
The two teams will play again on Thursday, this time at Carolina Forest. If St. James wins, the region winner will be decided by a tiebreaker process that would be worked out after Thursday鈥檚 match.聽
Carolina Forest's Chris Rutenberg charges the net to return a short drop shot from St James' Jordan Kirk in their No. 3 singles match.
For Dular and the Panthers, it鈥檚 eighth grader Dawson Daves who has been the team鈥檚 anchor this season.
Daves has been a force as Carolina Forest鈥檚 No. 1 this year. He won both singles matches against St. James鈥 Alex Knight on Wednesday (6-2, 6-2) and is contributing in key ways at the top spot of the lineup.
Both Daves and Colton Oljeski, who locks down the Panthers鈥 No. 2 spot, won their singles matches in straight sets to key the Panthers win.
鈥淎ny time you can add an upper-tier player and slot other players around him, it just makes everyone better,鈥 Dular said of Daves. 鈥淒awson鈥檚 practice habits, how he plays, it all just makes our whole team better. He鈥檚 been fantastic this year and we鈥檙e hoping he keeps it going.鈥澛
Daves and Oljeski paired up in doubles play and won handily 鈥 6-0, 6-2.
St. James had bright spots on the night that head coach Lee Cannon said are encouraging as he looks to Thursday night.
Despite a 6-1 final, Cannon feels there is plenty to take away and into Thursday's match.
St. James' No. 2 doubles player Vance Leonard returns a shot at the net against the Panthers' No. 2 doubles team of Cooper Denny and Tyler Belar.
鈥淲hat I take from tonight is that this is competitive,鈥 Cannon said of the matchup. 鈥淚 think tomorrow, that 6-1 on the board could be a 4-3 our way. It could even be possibly better than 4-3. We can make a statement, or we can lay down鈥 we need to build, not duck and cover.鈥
For the Panthers, the mission is simple 鈥 win Thursday, and win the region.
Wednesday was step one in attempting to complete the two-day sweep against St. James.
Now, Dular said it鈥檚 all about following the trusted process.
鈥淲e need to hydrate, eat and get some sleep,鈥 the coach said Wednesday night. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a tough one tomorrow night. They are a fantastic program. Coach Cannon does a tremendous job and they鈥檝e got a bunch of great players who fight hard.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be tough. I need them physically to get ready for tomorrow, and then once the match rolls around, we鈥檒l be mentally ready.鈥
First serve on Thursday is set for 5 p.m. at Carolina Forest.
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