With eyes to the future, head coach Tommy Smith and the youthful Quitman High tennis team competed in the Division IV, Region 1 tournament held on the campus of the University of Louisiana – Monroe (ULM) on Thursday.
Fielding the youngest team in the tourney, Smith’s main objective was to give his boys and girls experience in playing against top-flight competition in a championship environment. Wins were not expected but to the surprise of many, 8th grader, Libby Morgan provided a shocker by winning her first singles match before being eliminated, serving notice that she will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
Quitman’s girls doubles teams of Abby Paris and Emani Gomez, Kinley Walker and Reese Womack and boys duo of Gage McMurray and Walker Medaries all fell in the first round but according to Smith the experience gained will serve just as well as a victory may have.
“We knew going in that we were facing a tough challenge,” said Smith. “All I really was hoping for was the guys and girls would learn from the experience to better serve them in the future. I was very pleased with the way we competed and for Libby to win a match was awesome.”
Class 2A Oak Grove was crowned regional champion among the 14 schools that took part by winning first and second in the doubles competition and coming in second in singles competition.
