RAEFORD — The Fighting Scots tennis team will be sending one singles player and one doubles team to the 4A East regional tournament next week after gutting it out at the two-day Southeastern conference tournament at Hoke.

Scots senior Shane Dubbs and junior doubles duo Nyjel Collins-Jackson and Sam Poage battled their way through the SEC tournament playing for the singles’ championship and third-place doubles.

Dubbs started his tournament run with a victory over Pinecrest’s Will Lucas, 6-3, 6-1 before taking on Richmond’s Miles Harrington for a chance to clinch a berth to regionals. Dubbs played it cool and maintained consistency throughout the match to down Harrington, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the singles semi-finals.

The Scots senior took on Lumberton’s Dominic Dent in the singles semi-finals — the two finished tied 1-1 in their regular season matches. Dent bested Dubbs in their first meeting in March before Dubbs handed Dent a loss earlier this month. Dubbs was prepared for Dent this time and made quick work of his Pirates counterpart, 6-2, 6-1 to secure his place in the singles championship.

Dubbs took on Pinecrest’s Aidan Temple in the championship and came up just short against the Patriots top player, 0-6, 5-7. Despite the loss, Dubbs will still advance to next week’s 4A regionals.

The Southeastern conference tournament was also good to Collins-Jackson and Poage who took third place in the doubles bracket. The juniors started day one of the tournament with a two-set victory over Purnel Swett’s Shawn Gingras and Jaron Cummings. The Scots didn’t waste any time quickly downing their first-round opponents 6-0, 6-1.

The Scots pair then took on Pinecrest’s Luke Clark and Kyle Osterman in the quarterfinals — which turned out to be a much closer match. The Scots duo kept their wits about them and pulled off a 6-2, 6-3 win over the Patriots to advance to the doubles semi-finals.

Collins-Jackson and Poage fell in the semi-finals, but their two victories on day one of the tournament secured them a spot at regionals. In their third-place match, Collins-Jackson and Poage took on a duo from Richmond and won to take third place in the conference and advance to the regionals.

After a successful first round of the conference tournament, the Scots other two doubles teams — Drew Monroe and Adam Wood and Daniel Johnson and Jason Kang — fell in the second round, but returned on day two for consolation matches.

Monroe and Wood took on Lumberton’s Bill Davis and Quinton Frederick. The Scots duo started out strong taking a 6-4 win before Davis and Fredrick rebounded to take the second set, 2-6 to force a third set. Monroe and Wood held on to pick up the 6-3 win.

The second day of doubles play saw Monroe and Wood eliminated by Pinecrest in two sets, 4-6, 3-6 to end their seasons.

Johnson and Kang paired up again to take on Pinecrest’s Ben Montalbo and Garrett Bass on day one. The Scots duo had the upper hand throughout the match, playing relaxed and having fun as frustration set in for the Patriots. Johnson and Kang secured a 6-2 first-set win before going on to win 6-4 in the second set.

The Scots juniors defeated Purnell’s Jydor Locklear and Adam Lowery in the second round of day one. Johnson and Kang played a marathon match against Locklear and Lowery winning 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6). In the consolation round, Johnson and Kang played a pro-10 set against Pinecrest. The duo gave it their all, but fell just short losing the pro-set match, 7-10.

The Scots other two singles players didn’t fare as well, getting eliminated in the first round of the tournament.

Dubbs younger brother Nate Dubbs took on the overall No. 1 seeded singles player Aiden Temple from Pinecrest. Dubbs secured an ace on Temple in the second set but the Patriots singles player topped Dubbs, 6-0, 6-1.

Ryan Phillips took on Richmond’s top singles player Josh McGee in his first singles round. Phillips dropped the first set to McGee, 6-2 before forcing a second-set tiebreaker. The Scots junior battled back from a 4-1 hole to force a tiebreaker at 6-6. Phillips continued to be a tough opponent in the tiebreaker before eventually falling to McGee, 7-4 in the second-set tiebreaker.

Dubbs, Collins-Jackson and Poage are three of the five individuals from the Southeastern conference to advance to next week’s 4A East regional individual tournament. The tournament will be held at Hoggard High School in Wilmington on May 5 and 6. Seeding will take place at 1 p.m. on May 5 and play will begin at 2 p.m. The other conferences the SEC will be competing against include Eastern Carolina, Mideastern and the Mid-South Athletic.

Amber Hatten can be reached at 910-506-3170.

Amber Hatten | Laurinburg Exchange Fighting Scots senior Shane Dubbs finished the Southeaster conference tournament as the second best singles player. Dubbs lost in the championship match to Pinecrest’s Aidan Temple, 0-6, 5-7. Dubbs still secured a trip to the 4A East Regionals next Friday in Wilmington.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_IMG_1633.jpgAmber Hatten | Laurinburg Exchange Fighting Scots senior Shane Dubbs finished the Southeaster conference tournament as the second best singles player. Dubbs lost in the championship match to Pinecrest’s Aidan Temple, 0-6, 5-7. Dubbs still secured a trip to the 4A East Regionals next Friday in Wilmington.

Amber Hatten | Laurinburg Exchange Scots junior Sam Poage and his partner Nyjel Collins-Jackson finished third in the SEC doubles bracket. The duo also qualified for the 4A regionals next week.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_IMG_0848.jpgAmber Hatten | Laurinburg Exchange Scots junior Sam Poage and his partner Nyjel Collins-Jackson finished third in the SEC doubles bracket. The duo also qualified for the 4A regionals next week.
Tennis qualifies three for 4A regional tournament

By Amber Hatten

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