Tennis teams fall to Mars Hill

Senior Amy Vincent returns a serve during a recent game. The match resulted in a 1-8 loss. The next match for the Lady Buffs is March 19, at Tusculum College, and the men play March 21, at UVA Wise.

-Photo by Hannah Bader

On Tuesday, the Mars Hill Lions defeated the men’s and women’s tennis teams at Liberty Bell in Johnson City. The men’s tennis team lost 4-5 and the women lost 1-8.

The men started out the match by leading 2-0 without even playing because Mars Hill was short one player, forfeiting no. 6 singles and no. 3 doubles. Another win for the men’s team came from the no. 1 doubles team of freshmen Ryan Reynolds and Tom Jones defeating the Lions 8-6 in an eight game pro-set.

“Tom and Ryan have proven to be great additions to the team this year,” said junior teammate Patrick Mitchell.

The team’s fourth win came from senior Adam Campbell at the no. 4 singles spot winning 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-3.

“Adam was able to pull through and win his three-setter,” said Mitchell. “We’re getting better with every match, and I expect we’ll have something to celebrate soon.”

The Lady Buffs lone win came from junior Jessica Conn in singles at no. 6. Conn won her match by soundly defeating Mars Hill’s Rachel Barcio 6-0, 6-3.

“I feel like we didn’t play as well as we could have on a different day,” senior Amy Vincent said. “We put up a fight against a school with a solid tennis program. The overall match score doesn’t reflect how well we really played.”

The next match for the Lady Buffs is March 19, at Tusculum College, and the men play March 21, at UVA Wise.