MURFREESBORO –A little bit of home court advantage and a
good deal of talent mixed together resulted in a sectional win and a return
trip to the TSSAA Spring Fling state tournament for the Siegel boys as the
hosts defeated Cleveland, 4-1, here Thursday in a D-I AAA tennis match.
Playing at the site of next week’s state tournament - Old
Fort Park Tennis Complex – and Siegel’s home courts, the Stars (12-3), took a
2-0 lead with wins at No.1 (Taylor Graadman) and No.4 (Chadwick Daugherty), while
Cleveland got on the board with a win from Shivang Patel at No.3.
Siegel then sealed the win with straight set victories at
No.5 (Aaron Biddix) and No.2 (Michael Jacob.)
“Our guys showed up to play today and they knew what they
had to do to get back to the state,” said Siegel coach Jeff Martin whose team
won its second consecutive sectional title.
Cleveland finished the season at 16-1 and has won district
and region titles two of the last three years.
“We have the skills and ability to play with Siegel, but for
some reason we were not there mentally today,” said Blue Raider coach Elizabeth
Davis.
“We have the nucleus of our team returning (three of the top
five) and should have good depth next season with some players moving up from
middle school to fight for a spot in the top six.”
Siegel Boys 4, Cleveland 1
singles
Taylor Graadman (Siegel) def Jake Gibson, 6-2, 6-1
Michael Jacobs (Siegel) def. Brandon Williams, 7-5, 6-1
Shivang Patel (Cleve) def Mohammed Al-Zibaidi, 6-4, 6-0
Chadwick Daugherty (Siegel) def. Kevin Homcharron, 6-2, 6-1
Aaron Biddix (Siegel) def. Veeran Patel, 6-2, 6-3
records: Siegel (12-3) Cleveland (16-1)
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net