RALEIGH - There is no question that Roman Cacha is the leader of the Athens Drive boys tennis team. The undefeated senior, who has signed to play for Army in the fall, is the top player in the Tri-Nine Conference and is ranked No. 6 in the state.

But on Thursday against Panther Creek, it was two younger players stepped up to the plate to help Athens Drive secure its 10th victory of the 2011 season. After dropping a tough doubles match 9-7, David Terrill and Jack Lawson both won tiebreakers in singles to give Athens Drive a 6-3 victory over the Catamounts, who fell to 8-7 and 6-6 in Tri-Nine action.

Lawson, a freshman, defeated Carter Bradshaw 2-6, 6-2, 10-7 to wrap up the match for Athens Drive (10-4, 8-3) before Terrill, a sophomore, won in similar fashion. Terrill dropped his first set against Merritt Nettles 6-2 before roaring back in the second 6-4 and winning a tiebreak 10-5.

“I have to give David a lot of credit, same with Jack,” Athens Drive coach Gene Thomas said following the match. “For a freshman and sophomore to come in and have to win matches like that, you have to give the kids credit. It could have easily been 5-4 or 6-3 Panther Creek.”

As for Cacha, who is now two wins away from 100 combined wins in his career, he did what he normally does – dominate. He and his partner Kelvin Menezes throttled Amit Katyayan and Merritt Nettles 8-0 in No. 1 doubles before Cacha (12-0) took down Patrick Artman in singles, 6-0, 6-0.

Cacha admitted that he wasn’t even aware of his number of wins until Thomas said something in late March.

“It’s pretty neat,” he said. “To be playing for this long, time just flies. I didn’t even know until Coach Thomas told me. Time sneaks up on you.”

For Thomas, who is in his fourth year leading the boys team, Cacha’s lack of awareness of his record is just one of the things that makes him a special player.

“He takes it in stride, just like everything else,” he said. “Roman is a phenomenal player. He practices hard and he plays really hard. You give the ball, he’s going to hit and do anything he can to hit winners.”

Chris Johnson and Travis Crane secured Athens’ second doubles point with an 8-2 victory over Carter Bradshaw and Henrick Lindvall.

Menezes rounded out the scoring for Athens Drive with 6-4, 6-2 victory over Katyayan in singles. Panther Creek picked up its final two points thanks to singles victories by Taylor Atherton and Henrick Lindvall. Atherton took down Heewon Kim 6-1, 6-1 while Lindvall beat Crane 6-3, 6-3.

For Panther Creek head coach Nathaniel Blalock, Thursday’s match looked like a mirror image of the Catamounts’ earlier meeting with Athens Drive, also a 6-3 victory by the Jaguars.

“Our guys have to learn to close matches so it’s definitely a credit to Athens Drive,” he said. “We were more consistent down the line, but it’s a matter of being consistent in the big points and not just in the points that get you to the big points. That’s what it boils down to.”

Cacha said he hoped Thursday’s win would be a springboard to a playoff berth for the Jaguars, something the highly-decorated hasn’t experienced in his four-year career.

“Hopefully we might be able to get into the regionals,” he said. “I’ve never been [on] a team [playing] past the conference tournament. We’re definitely better this year. We’ll see what happens.”