White County Tennis has strong season opener on the road

White County High School opened its tennis season on the road Tuesday, Feb. 24, with a determined effort against Warren County. The Warriors and Warriorettes faced cold, windy conditions but still delivered a strong first showing, earning a team win on the boys’ side while the girls narrowly missed out.

Head coach Topher Wiles said the weather only underscored the resilience his players showed throughout the evening. “We are proud of our Warriors and Warriorettes for battling late into the cold, windy evening and coming away with many notable performances,” Wiles said.

Those performances included several athletes earning their first individual high school victories. Seth Smith, Gabe Sweeney, Katelyn Howard, Emmie Benningfield, Claire Hawkins, and Aleigha Weston all secured important early-season wins. White County also picked up essential varsity singles and doubles points from Ethan Wiles, Ben Brogden, Rhoane Whorton, and Jagger Osborne.

A number of moments stood out across the long evening. Freshman Seth Smith delivered the only singles bagel of the match with a commanding 8–0 win. In mixed doubles, freshmen Gabe Sweeney and Aleigha Weston teamed up to post a 6–0 bagel of their own. The night’s “breadstick” scorelines came from junior Solomon Hawkins and sophomores Jagger Osborne and Sadie Benningfield, each closing out their matches 8–1. One of the toughest battles of the contest belonged to the freshman doubles team of Emmie Benningfield and Claire Hawkins, who claimed the night’s only tiebreak with a 7–6 (5) finish.

Additional match victories were recorded by John Durfee, Solomon Hawkins, Jett Drouillard, Tegan Rittenberry, Sadie Benningfield, Olivia Flaminio, and Avi Rose, contributing to a productive opener for the program.

White County returns to competition on Tuesday, March 3, for an away JV match against Upperman at the Cookeville Community Center. First serves are scheduled for 4 p.m.

Thank you to Sparta Heating & Air Conditioning for their sponsorship and support of our Spring Sports coverage.