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