Stories From the Online Decatur Daily
Austin wins on tennis court - From Staff Reports - THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007
Austin boys 9, Hazel Green 0: The Black Bears (2-2) swept by Hazel Green.
Alex Worley won at No. 1 singles over Jeremie Bone 6-0, 6-0, and Kyle Smith won at No. 2 over Chris Wayne 6-0, 6-0.
Then Worley and Smith combined to win at No. 1 doubles over Bone and Jared Byrd 6-1, 6-2.
Austin also got singles victories from Sam Barker at No. 3, Kyle Justice at No. 4, Taylor Collins at No. 5 and Weston Brown at No. 6.
In doubles action the Black Bears racked up points when Collins and Barker won at No. 2, and Justice and Ben Ward won at No. 3.
Austin girls 5, Hazel Green 4: The Lady Black Bears (1-3) took their first win of the year as Meleana McCutcheon scored a win at No. 1 singles and combined with Elizabeth Cargile for a win at No. 1 doubles.
McCutcheon beat Elizabeth Roller 6-3, 6-0 for her singles win. In doubles, she and Cargile beat Elizabeth and Allyson Roller 7-6, 6-2.
Lindsay Smith gave Austin a win at No. 4 singles, and Rachel King won her match at No. 6. In doubles, the Lady Black Bears took a win at the No. 2 spot with the work of Jena Ward and Sydney Starkey.
Spain Park too tough in tennis
Host Austin finishes 9th
By Mark Edwards
medwards@decaturdaily.com
· 340-2461 - SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 2007
Austin High finished ninth out of 15 teams from across North and Central Alabama as the Black Bears hosted their annual boys high school tennis tournament at Point Mallard.
Spain Park won the event, which began Friday and ended Saturday evening. In a scoring system that gave two points for every singles victory and three for every win in doubles, Spain Park compiled 66 points.
Vestavia Hills placed second with 61, followed by Grissom (43), Huntsville (31), Russellville (20) and Pelham (20).
Northridge of Tuscaloosa was seventh with 18 points, while Bob Jones (13) was eighth, followed by Austin (12). Florence (11) was 10th, followed by West Point (eight), Muscle Shoals (five), Hartselle (two), Guntersville (two) and Decatur (zero).
The Austin doubles team of Alex Worley and Kyle Smith advanced to the semifinals at No. 1 doubles before falling to Spain Park’s Ryan White and Nathan White.
In No. 3 doubles, Austin’s Kyle Justice and Ben Ward made the quarterfinals.
In singles, Austin had three players make the quarterfinals, including Smith at No. 2, Sam Barker at No. 3 and Taylor Collins at No. 5.
For Hartselle, A.J. McNutt made the quarterfinals in No. 5 singles.
Spain Park’s Nathan White won No. 1 singles over Grissom’s Connor Rives 6-3, 6-2.
Ryan White, Nathan’s brother, won No. 2 singles by defeating Pelham’s John McKay 6-2, 6-2.
The two brothers won No. 1 doubles over Rives and Michael Little of Grissom 6-3, 6-3.
In other singles matches, Spain Park’s Josh Benton won at No. 3. Vestavia Hills swept the other three singles championships, including Matt Roden at No. 4, Brett Gibson at No. 5 and Clark Morson at No. 6.
Roden and Justin Detwiler also gave Vestavia Hills the No. 3 doubles championship.
At No. 2 doubles, Spain Park’s Benton and Martin Stickler beat Vestavia Hills’ Gibson and Morson 7-5, 6-3 in the match that clinched the team championship.
15-team field strong at Austin tournament
Event continues Saturday morning at Point Mallard
By Mark Edwards
medwards@decaturdaily.com
· 340-2461 - SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2007
The tennis courts are full at Point Mallard, and that's good news for local high school boys varsity teams.
Austin High is hosting its annual spring tournament, which features 15 schools, including Austin, Decatur and Hartselle. Those three are facing competition from traditional North Alabama programs such as Grissom, Florence and Russellville. Teams from the Birmingham metro area have made the trip, including Vestavia Hills, Spain Spark and Pelham. Northridge of Tuscaloosa also has entered the field.
Tournament play began Friday afternoon with opening-round singles matches. Several second-round matches also took the court before the end of the day.
The teams will hit the courts again Saturday at 9 a.m. with the tournament wrapping up in the evening.
"In general, this is a great way to meet some teams that are outside the area," said Austin sophomore Alex Worley, who plays No. 1 in the Black Bears' singles lineup and is in his fourth year with the varsity.
"It's good experience. There are a lot of good teams here."
The Austin tournament also includes a girls field, but because the event has grown so large, the girls and boys brackets are played out at separate times. The girls played last weekend with 13 schools participating. Florence won the team championship.
In last year's boys tournament, Walker won the championship, while Hoover placed second. Neither is back this year, but the competition doesn't appear to have slowed.
"This is a really good tournament," said Decatur junior Chris Harlow, who plays No. 3 singles and is in his third year on the varsity.
"We get to play players we normally wouldn't play, and that's great experience."
Girls tennis – From Staff Reports - SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2007
Austin High finished fifth with 22 points and Decatur came in sixth with 20 points in girls tennis action at the Jimmy Johns center at Point Mallard on Friday and Saturday.
Florence won the 13-team tourney with 49 overall points.
Meleana McCutcheon won in the No. 1 girls singles for Austin, and Sarah Hodges paced the No.2 singles winning in the final. Mary Virginia Sherrill won in the No. 4 singles for the Lady Red Raiders.
Austin boys pick up tennis win
From Staff Reports - THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2007
Austin High’s boys tennis team recorded its first win of the season with a 5-4 victory over Bob Jones on Tuesday.
Austin (1-2) picked up three singles wins. Kyle Smith beat Ian Dial 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 2 spot in the lineup, while Kyle Justice beat Eric Bond 6-4, 4-6, 10-3 at No. 4. Tyler Collins beat Nick Morris 1-6, 6-4, 10-8 at No. 6.
In doubles, Austin took two of three. Smith and Alex Worley won at No. 1 over Dial and Bond 6-4, 6-2. Justice and Ben Ward won at No. 3.
Grissom girls 5, Austin 4: The Lady Black Bears (0-3) fell after losing two of three doubles matches.
Austin’s Meleana McCutcheon and Elizabeth Cargile won 6-3, 6-0 at No. 1 over Jessica Chang and Anne Clark, but Grissom took the other two matches.
In singles, Austin won three of six. McCutcheon won 6-0, 6-0 over Chang at No. 1. Cargile won 6-4, 7-5 at No. 3 over Abby Craft. At No. 5, Jena Ward beat Olivia Shanteau 6-3, 6-3.
Huntsville boys 7, Austin 2: In a Monday match, the Black Bears took two wins. Worley beat Clayton Simons 6-1, 6-7, 10-5 at No. 1 singles, and Smith and Worley beat Nathan Roberts and Conner Roth 3-6, 6-0, 10-6 at No. 1 doubles.
Huntsville girls 8, Austin 1: In another Monday match, Austin picked up its lone win at No. 1 singles. McCutcheon won 6-1, 6-3 over Kelsey Coots.
From Staff Reports - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007
Florence girls 8, Austin 1: The Lady Black Bears got one win, which came from the No. 1 doubles team of Meleana McCutcheon and Elizabeth Cargile.
Florence boys 5, Austin 4: Austin won two singles matches and two in doubles.
Alex Worley won at No. 1 singles and Kyle Smith won at No. 2 singles. They combined to win at No. 1 doubles.
Kyle Justice and Ben Ward combined to win at No. 3 doubles.
From Staff Reports April 20, 2007
Grissom 7, Austin boys 2: Alex Worley and Kyle Smith took victories in singles matches Wednesday.
But that was all the Black Bears could muster as Grissom swept the rest of the singles and won all the doubles matches.
From Staff Reports April 19, 2007
Austin's Meleana McCutcheon defeated Guntersville's Jilli Sparks 10-0 in a No. 1 tennis match at the Guntersville Recreation Center on Tuesday. Guntersville won the team event 8-4.
Others posting singles wins for Austin were No. 8 Sydney Starkey over Ann Lusk 8-4; No. 9 Jordyn Wagner over Taylor Hayes 8-2; and No. 14 Andrea Mason over Morgan Tuggle 8-6.
McCutcheon and Elizabeth Cargile took a win for Austin in doubles. The duo of Linday Smith and Sydney Starkey also picked up a victory as did Jordyn Wagner and Alex Walker.
In boys action, Austin won 6-3.
Austin's Alex Worley defeated John Clark 10-7 in No. 1 singles. No. 2 Kyle Smith beat Josh Cameron 10-0. No. 3 Kyle Justice beat Brock Shelton 10-0. No. 5 Weston Brown won over Chris Collins 10-6. In boys doubles: No. 1 Smith-Worley won 10-5, and No. 3 Justice-Ben Ward won 10-5.
From Staff Reports April 14, 2007
Austin girls 5, West Point 4: Austin’s Meleana McCutcheon picked up a win at No. 1 singles and teamed with Elizabeth Cargile for the No. 1 doubles victory.
McCutcheon beat West Morgan’s Kodi Bobo 6-1, 6-0, and McCutcheon and Cargile downed Bobo and Lindsey Eddy 6-1, 6-0.
Katrina Wujtewicz and Rachel King also wins singles matches for the Lady Black Bears, while Jena Ward and Wujtewicz won at No. 2 doubles.
Austin boys 8, West Point 1: Kyle Smith, Ben Ward, Kyle Justice, Taylor Collins and Weston Brown each won their singles matches in a dominant performance by the Black Bears.
Smith and Alex Worley teamed at No. 1 doubles, downing West Point’s Matt Teichmiller and Ben Vandegrift 6-4, 6-1. Collins and Brown picked up the win at No. 2 doubles, defeating Michael Tucker and Keelan Tucker 6-2, 6-1. At No. 3 doubles, Justice and Ward won 6-0, 6-2 over Ryan Sullins and Michael Baker.
From Staff Reports April 12, 2007
Bob Jones boys 5, Austin 4: The Black Bears (5-6) came one win away from moving their record above .500, but lost in three of the six singles matches and two of the three doubles matches.
In singles, No. 1 Alex Worley defeated Varum Sarapaeni 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 while No. 2 Kyle Smith took down Ian dial 10-6. Also, Taylor Collins picked up a singles win by beating Nick Morris 10-7.
In doubles, the tandem of Smith and Worley won Austin's lone team match, beating Sarapaeni and Dial 6-3, 6-7, 10-7.
From Staff Reports APRIL 11, 2007
Huntsville boys 6, Austin 3: Austin's lone singles wins came from Alex Worley at No. 1 singles and Kyle Smith at No. 2. Worley and Smith combined for a win at No. 1 doubles.
Worley beat Clayton Simmons 6-2, 3-6, 10-6, while Smith beat Nathan Roberts 6-1, 6-4. Smith and Worley beat Roberts and Connor Roth 6-0, 6-7, 10-6.
Huntsville girls 8, Austin 1: The Lady Black Bears avoided a shut out when No. 1 singles player Meleana McCutcheon beat Kelsi Coots 6-0, 6-0.