Published: Mar 07, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified: Mar 05, 2010 11:41 PM
Green Hope's boys downed Athens Drive 7-2 in the boys' tennis season and conference opener for both teams.
The Falcons took five singles matches and two doubles Monday, despite missing its top seed to an outside tournament.
Jake Bowling, a senior, was a finalist for last year's 4-A individual title and has signed to play for South Carolina.
Athens got wins from returning Tri-Nine Conference champion Roman Cacha in his singles match and his No. 1 doubles match in which he paired up with Kelvin Menezes to win 8-6. Cacha, ranked the 11th-best junior in the state, downed Taylor Elliott 6-1, 6-2 in singles.
Green Hope's Kelly Patch, a freshman, won a second-seed singles in straight sets 6-0, 6-0 as did fifth-seed Jack Jin.
Third-seed Steven Wang prevailed for Green Hope 6-1, 6-0 as did fourth-seed Luke Wickelgren with a 6-0, 6-2 win.
Freshman Matthew Hammond rounded out the Falcons' singles wins with a 6-2, 6-0 victory.
In doubles, Green Hope took wins at second and third seeds with Wang and Wickelgreen teaming up to win 8-1 and Jin and Kyle Burns also winning by the same score.