Ads claim region title, one win from state
Grayer Dunagan provided it anyway, putting the icing on the already-baked cake of the Admirals’ Region 2-AA title — their second in the last three years — at McFee Park.
After Leyton Lu defeated Campbell County’s Malachi Miesel in wins of 6-1 and 6-0 to cement a 4-0 match victory for FHS, Dunagan stormed back from a 6-0 deficit to beat the Cougars’ Will Croley in two tiebreakers for an unofficial 5-0 mark on the day.
With the win, the Ads advance to this week’s sectional round against Science Hill as they look for their first ever team-wide state tournament berth.
“I knew we already won, so I started swinging free because it didn’t matter if I won or lost at that point,” Dunagan said. “Leyton gave me some really good advice, so I took that and used it. I wanted to start swinging loose because I felt like I was playing really tight the whole match, so I stopped serving so big and tried to be more consistent.”
His approach flipped the match on its head, providing the final flourish to a day full of Admiral success.
“They came out strong and ready to win,” Farragut tennis coach Joan Swanson said of her team. “They were here before Jim and I were, and we were here an hour early. They were ready to compete.”
Lu and Dunagan showed that in one doubles match, defeating Croley and Davide Marcosano 8-0. FHS notched its other doubles win through Skyler Meade and Lukas Bukovsky, who took down the Campbell County combo of Miesel and Hunter Dotson by an 8-4 margin.
From there, players moved on to singles while Admirals Kori Faulkner and Albert Lui wrapped up an 8-0 win of their own.
Faulkner bested Campbell County’s Jack Stootsbury, 6-0 and 6-1 in singles, while Lui took down Braxton Fot, 6-0 in each set.
That left FHS needing just one more win to clinch the match, and Lu came through with a flummoxing floater for the final point.
“It was a pretty funny point to win, honestly, because I hit a really bad lob and the guy whiffed it into the net,” Lu said with a chuckle. “It was nice to win it for the team. I felt like we were playing pretty well.”
The Ads will look to continue that this week, as they welcome the Hilltoppers on Friday, May 8, for a Class AA sectional matchup.
The teams have met once before this season, as SHHS beat an undermanned Farragut team in Johnson City.
Now, FHS will look for some revenge with a shot at history on the line.
“We played earlier in the season and didn’t have our total starting lineup,” Swanson said of Farragut’s Friday matchup. “So some of our players feel confident now that they’ll give them pretty good competition.”
