STM-tennis aims for a tight victory over the Cobblers

STM split the singles with tight matches against the Cobblers, leaving the fate of the singles in the hands of the doubles teams.

The Cavaliers won two of the three doubles contests to secure a 5-4 victory over their crosstown foe.

"Our school and their school are more even numbers-wise," Cavs head coach Brendan Murphy said. - We both have a lot of new kids, and we always have pretty good matches. We love being here playing a team with such good boys. That just makes it a good match at the end of the day."

The Cavaliers (2-7) have recently relied on young players to help grow the program, with juniors leading the way.

Elliot Huxford was the only STM athlete to earn wins in singles and doubles. The seventh-grader defeated Payton Taylor 6-0, 6-0 at Flight 5 singles and teamed with Greyson Weaver to end the day with a victory at Flight 3 singles.

“We are really excited about the future of our program,” Murphy said. "We changed from a team of five children just a few years ago to today, we have more than 22 children. It's really exciting to see where we're going and the interest we're growing in St. Thomas More. I am very proud to be a part of the program and proud to be their coach.

STM's Braeden Strain defeated Hugh Knickrehm 6-1, 6-1 in Flight 3 and Carter Stamper defeated Central's Noah McGrath 6-0, 6-4 in Flight 4.

Central's Anson Griffin won a tight match against Michael Levine in top singles 6-3, 1-6, 11-9. Triston Ducheneaux defeated STM's Andrew Levine 6-3, 5-7, 10-4 to be the only Cobbler to win both of his matches.

“They definitely drove a mile and played a lot of points out there,” Central head coach Noah Hammerbeck said. “It's very encouraging, especially since Tristian is a two-sport athlete and soccer is his main sport. We got him here to play tennis with us and he has done a great job and is having a great time overall.

Greyson Weston picked up the Cobblers' third singles win against Greyson Weaver in flight 6, 6-3, 6-4.

The Cobblers (1-3) have just one senior, and freshman Griffin is a strong leader at the No. 1 position.

"He's one of our younger players, but he plays in a tough spot," Hammerbeck said. "He's a real role model even for some of the older kids who are just getting into the game. We've been fortunate to have Anson since he was in seventh grade and he's just grown from there. I'm excited to see him progress as he goes through his high school years.

Micahel and Andrew Levine bounced back from singles losses and dominated the top singles. The STM brother duo defeated Central's Griffin and Knickrehm 6-2, 6-1.

"Sometimes we can feel like we're on top of the world, and other times we can feel like we're both in trouble," Michael Levine said. "It's just a matter of lifting each other up and never giving up. Looking at the end of his singles game, he hadn't been at his best. So I knew I had to pick him up and tell him that he's going to hang on and that we can easily take them down."

Elliott Huxford typically teams up with his twin Oliver, but teamed up with Weaver on Tuesday. The duo beat Weston and McGrath 6-1, 6-4 in Flight 3.

Ducheneaux and Taylor faced STM's Strain and Stamper in Flight 2 and won 7-6, 6-7, 10-8.

Central travels east to play Mitchell and Brookings on Thursday and Watertown and Brandon Valley on Friday.

"It's always good when our kids get into games that test their mental psyche a little bit," Hammerbeck said. "It puts a little bit of pressure on them and we can see how they react. The more tennis we play, the better we get. Hopefully we can build on this and keep the momentum going in the right direction."

The Cavaliers will face rival Rapid City Christian on Friday at 4 p.m. in Parkview.

"We're lucky to have such good tennis here locally and we're just having fun," Murphy said. “When you come to these local schools, the matches are a lot more fun because they all know each other and are good friends. They are very friendly and have good sportsmanship.”