Brookland-Cayce’s Katey Welch delivers a backhand return in her No. 1 singles match against Airport’s Ashley Hudson. Photo by James Witherspoon
The Brookland-Cayce Bearcats and the Airport Eagles don’t play their sports in the same region, but the cross-town rivals still make time to make the seasonal field trip down Airport Boulevard and Knox Abbott Drive for a friendly little visit.
On Tuesday, October 6, the Eagles were entirely too welcoming to the Bearcats, as the Brookland Cayce girls’ tennis team swept Airport 5-0 in an all-singles match on the courts at Airport High School.
“The score doesn’t always show the effort and the drive the girls had in each of their matches,” Airport head coach Zach Rivers said. “We did have a lot of matches go to deuce, go to 30-all. They were getting there but just couldn’t get that last point to get that game win.”
Brookland-Cayce assistant coach Greg Grieswell says it is always good to go against Airport, especially to get a win, considering the pandemic and delay to the season has put the Bearcats in an interesting position.
“It definitely was a setback when some of our training got cut short,” Grieswell said. “Once the season started, we haven’t had practice. We are having matches four nights a week and Fridays off.”
The pandemic crisis and schedule delays have also presented challenges for Airport.
“Airport tennis has been able to do well and play,” Coach Rivers says. “It was a late start to the season, but once it got rolling, we got all of our matches in; we got all of our practices. If someone is not feeling well, she will be away and do what she needs to do. But it has been really good.”
Two small events, at opposite ends of the tennis ladder, may bear watching for both these teams in the future.
While Rivers’s Eagles did battle through each game but just couldn’t close the deal, Ashley Hudson, at No. 1 for Airport, did close the deal in winning two games in her first match against the Bearcats Katey Welch. At No. 5 for the Bearcats, eighth-grader Sidney Moore, the younger sister of No. 2 Riley Moore, recently got brought up from the JV squad to compete on the varsity.
Singles: Katey Welch (BC) d. Ashley Hudson (A) 6-2, 6-0; Riley Moore (BC) d. Isabel Siedschlag (A) 6- 0, 6-0; Miranda Jeffcoat (BC) d. Amaya Epperson (A) 6-0, 6-0; Evana Brown (BC) d. Chloe Sturkie (A) 6- 0, 6-0; Sidney Moore (BC) d. Kylie Siedschlag (A) 6-0, 6-0.
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