A.C. Flora No. 2 Jude Smyth rips a forehand in his match against Camden’s Hank Greenway.
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The A.C. Flora Falcons downed the visiting Camden Bulldogs 5-1 in the second round of the Class 4A boys tennis playoffs Thursday, May 1.
“This was a great win,” A.C. Flora head coach Amy Martin said. “Only dropping one court…they are back-toback state champions for 3A last year and the year before, and their No. 1 and 2 are rock solid. A lot of times it’s our depth that carries us, and that happened today.”
A.C. Flora No. 4 Will Hewitt was first off the court downing Luke Battiata 6-0, 6-0 in less than an hour. Vijay Sinha was not far behind as he beat Camden No. 3 Harris Younghans 6-0, 6-1.
A.C. Flora No. 5 William Beasley gave the Falcons a 3-0 lead ending his 6-0, 6-1 match against Miles Redfearn with an ace.
A.C. Flora No. 2 Jude Smyth lost to Camden’s Hank Greenway in a tiebreaker in their one and only regular season matchup earlier this season, but Smyth was able to avenge the loss in a tightly contested 6-3, 6-3 victory on Thursday. Smyth and Greenway’s two sets played out in similar fashion as Greenway led early on in both, but Smyth grabbed a 4-3 lead and took control late. The win gave Flora the match.
“That’s going to be big, especially coming up Monday,” Martin said of Smyth’s victory. “To have that in your back pocket, that’s good.”
The Falcons’ No. 2 doubles team of Will Trumpeter and Tripp Van Vlake took the court an hour after the start of singles play. However, they beat Camden’s Burch Funderburk and David Sloan 6-0, 6-0 managing to finish well before the battle between James Smyth and Camden No. 1 Slade Funderburk ended.
Smyth and Funderburk knocked heads for two hours. Smyth led 4-3 in the first set, but Funderburk fought back to take it 6-4. Funderburk then built a 4-2 lead in the second set before Smyth took the next two games to tie it at 4-4. However, Funderburk regained control and won the second set 6-4 to take the match.
The Falcons will host their old rivals, the Dreher Blue Devils, Monday, May 5 in a quarterfinal match. The winner advances to the Upper State Championship on May 7.
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