CCS Tennis Alum Will Reynolds Ready for TVOC

Annual TVOC at Manker Patten

  • Wednesday, June 11, 2014
  • B.B. Branton

As a 17-year-old high school junior in 2008, Will Reynolds won the TSSAA A-AA state singles title for Chattanooga Christian.

Two years later at 19, he was playing No. 6 singles on college tennis’ biggest stage - the NCAA tournament – for his beloved Georgia Bulldogs.

Former Baylor School state champion Bo Seal was the starter at No.6, but was removed from the team after Christmas opening the door for Reynolds, a walk-on, to make the starting lineup.

“It was exciting to be able to play against some of the best teams in the land in front of our fans in Athens,” said Reynolds, 23, as the Dawgs advanced to the national semis in 2010 with wins against No.6 Florida and No.20 Oklahoma.

Thursday’s Match: Currently a teaching pro at the Athletic Club Alabama in Huntsville (owned by former Georgia All-American Eddie Jacques), No.9 seeded Reynolds faces former McCallie No.1 player Bobby Brouner (2012 state runner-up) in a TVOC Men’s Open round of 32 singles match Thursday at 8 a.m. at Manker Patten.

In Wednesday’s round of 64 matches, Reynolds defeated Hadyn Fava, 6-4, 6-3, while Brouner stopped William Schneider, 6-3, 6-2.

TVOC Note: In Reynolds first match as a Bulldog starter in Jan. 2010, he defeated Alabama freshman (and three-time TSSAA state champ) Ian Chadwell in singles at the SEC Coaches Indoor tournament, while Chadwell topped Reynolds in doubles in the same event … Chadwell, also a No.9 seed (in opposite bracket from Reynolds), won his round of 64 match Wednesday against Grady Clay, 6-0, 6-0 … Thursday, Chadwell faces Daniel Hangstefer in the round of 32 at 8 a.m. … Chadwell played for No.21 U. of Memphis this past spring at No.5 singles and No.3 doubles.

Fast Track to Graduate: Earning a sports management degree in three years with a 3.45 grade point average, Reynolds was not sure if tennis was in his future.

“I was engaged (now his wife) to Georgia cheerleader Ashley Hines and not sure what the future held for me, but then I had a chance to work with the Georgia women’s tennis team while I was in graduate school,” Reynolds stated.

“Ashley and I were in involved in the same student Christian group on campus, but didn’t really know each other until we spent a week one summer at an Athletes in Action sports camp in Fort Collins, Colo. We started dating that fall and engaged nine months later.”

Today, Reynolds is the director of the junior tennis program at the ACA in Huntsville.

2010 Season – Good Memories: “Playing at home in the NCAA’s, we beat No.6 Florida, 4-2, in the round of 16 after losing to them in the regular season … then we beat No.20 Oklahoma in the quarters, but lost to No.2 Tennessee in the semis (Georgia was No.11) … UT was loaded that year with Rhyne Williams and both Sangren brothers (Tennys and Davey) and lost to Southern Cal in the finals … but we did beat UT (4-3) at the NCAAs the next year at Stanford before losing to USC.”

Men's Top Seed: Gonzales Austin earned All-American honors this spring in singles and doubles for Vanderbilt.

TVOC Schedule: most quarterfinal matches are Friday followed by semis on Saturday and finals Sunday, starting with the older age divisions in the morning.

Men’s Open Singles - Round of 64

1 Gonzales Austin bye … Evan Watkins def. Reid Dillon, 6-3, 6-0 (9) Robert Cameron def. Parrish Preston, 6-0, 6-0; Christian Matthews def. London Justice, 6-0, 6-1; (5) Pavels Grigorjevs def. Ernesto Farinas, 6-1, 6-2; Michael King def. Alex Nation, 6-2, 6-0; Bobby Brouner def. William Schneider, 6-2, 6-0; (3) Eduardo Rincon won by default; Kano Solomon def. Joshua Donaldson, 6-1 6-3; Carl Abalos def. (9) David Henry, 6-3, 6-4; Davis Thrailkill def. Will Turner, 6-3, 6-4.

(5) Eric Diaz def. Daniel Hardesty, 6-1, 6-1; John-Michael Busch def. Kalyan Chadalavada, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3; (9) Ian Chadwell def. Grady Clay, 6-0, 6-0; Dejon Bivens def. Vikram Hundal, 6-3, 6-3; Daniel Hangstefer def. Cooper Long, 6-2, 6-0; Chad Woodham def. Eric Mueller, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 5-4 retired; Sergey Belov def. (5) Elliott Orkin, 6-4, 6-3; Amyn Soldier-Mukadam def. Nicholas Cordista, 6-0,6-0;  (9) Aaron Jumonville def. Evan Borowski, 6-0, 6-1; Grant Maddox def. Kevin Tan, 6-2, 6-3

(4) Forrest Edwards def. Tanner Stancil, 6-1, 6-3; Kevin Do def. Ransom Coslett, 6-2, 6-2; (9) Ankit Choora def. Bill Ream, 6-2, 6-1, Joe Daniels def. Don Napiers, 6-3, 6-3; Salif Kante def. (5) Roberto Vieira, 6-4, 6-3; Naveen Chadalavada def. Charles Duggan, 6-0, 6-0; (9) Steven Patrick def. Duncan Howell, 6-1, 6-3; Mario Matinez def. Darryl Hale, 6-1, 6-4; (2) Wayne Montgomery bye

Men’s 45s:

Alvaro Victoria def. Michael March, 6-1, 6-0; John Buchard def. Chris Peoples, 6-2, 6-1.

Top Seeds
* Men's Open ... (1) Gonzales Austin ... (2) Wayne Montgomery ... (3) Eduardo Rincon ... (4) Forrest Edwards

* Women’s Open … (1) Marie Casares … (2) Courtney Colton … (3) Kayla Jones  … (4) Natalia Maynetto

Casares vs. Krista Good, 1:30 p.m.

(round of 32 – Thurs, 10 a.m. … round of 16 – starts Thurs., at 1 p.m.)

* Men’s 45s … (1) Ken Koelling vs. Andrew Sallee, noon … (2) Philip Johnson vs. Michael Stephens, 1:30 p.m. … (3) William Taff vs. David Puckett, 12:30 p.m. … (4) Stephen Crofford vs. Robert Moss

(round of 16 – start Thursday noon)

* Men’s 55s … (1) Geoff MacDonald … (2) Jonathan Hart … (3) Hank Ream … (4) Glen Fanelli

(seeds play Friday morning)

* Men’s 65s … (1) Marci Anthony … (2) Dennis Strickler … (3) Chuck Maland … (4) Ken Campbell

(seeds play Friday morning)

* Men’s 75s … day and times not set … jack Myers vs. Lamar Hooker … Don Smith vs. Ken Nelson

* Men’s Open Doubles … (1) Elliott Orkin-Gonzales Austin … (2) Eric Diaz-Wayne Montgomery … (3)Eduardo Rincon-Mario Martinez … (4) David Henry-Aaron Jumonville

(round of 32 matches – Thurs late afternoon … round of 16 – Friday noon)

* Women’s Open Doubles … (1) Marie Carares-Courtney Colton … (2) Carmen Blanco-Natalia Maynetto ….

(quarterfinals - Friday, 1:30 p.m.)

* Mixed Open Doubles … (1) Courtney Colton-Gonzales Austin … (2) Will Reynolds-Marie Casares … (3) John Hangstefer-Kayla Jones … (4) Ian Chadwell-Kayleen Chadwell …

(round of 16 – Thurs, 8:30 p.m.)

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net


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