Men’s Tennis Escapes with Two Doubles Wins, Loses to Wallace State, 6-3
Hanceville, AL—In a day filled with missteps, misfires, mishits, and misfortune, the beleaguered Marion Military Institute Tigers left the Wallace State Community College-Hanceville courts with two doubles wins and one singles win before losing a 6-3 decision to the Lions.
The Tigers took two close 8-6 contests at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Isaiah Polk and Barry Booth clawed out the match with some fine play down the stretch on court 1, and their teammates, Andrew Carey and Harry Foster, duplicated their feat on court 2.
"If it wasn't for the two doubles matches and Carey's win in singles, we would have had an extremely abysmal day at the courts," said coach Charles Wright. "As it was, the day (and the play) was abysmal enough."
If doubles was the high water mark of play for the Tigers, then singles was the low water mark. Drought conditions struck as Polk, Booth, Foster, and Winslow lost lopsided matches to their Lion foes. Andrew Carey picked up MMI's lone singles point with his 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles.
"The only good thing I can say about that match is that it's over," Wright said. "We'll lick our wounds and hopefully be a little wiser in everything we do. I believe this is the watershed moment of our season. It's either sink or swim from here on out. And I think we're buoyant enough and resilient enough to survive this."
The Tigers return to action on Wednesday, April 18 when they travel to Pulaski, TN, to play Martin Methodist College on Senior Day. Play starts at 1:00 p.m. at the Magazine Road Park Tennis Courts.