This year’s Scotland High boys tennis roster includes several players who helped the Fighting Scots advance to the second round of the 4A dual team state championships last year.
Returners Nick Murphy, Drew Hamilton and Nick Eury all picked up singles victories when Scotland defeated South View in the first round of the playoffs last season. Those three players, along with Nate Dubbs and Drew Monroe, also qualified individually for regionals. Dubbs and Monroe were seniors last year.
“We lost our top three courts, but we’ve made up for that,” Hamilton said.
Dubbs, Monroe and Hunter Edkins led Scotland to a 9-5 overall record and an 8-4 record in Sandhills Athletic Conference play a year ago. Despite losing those talented seniors, the Scots aren’t wasting any time getting back to work. They’ve won their first two matches of the season — 7-2 over Jack Britt and 8-1 over Lumberton.
Scotland used the same lineup in both of those matches: Hamilton on the first singles court, followed by Nick Murphy on court two, Eury on court three, Bryce Cooper on court four, Luke Strickland on court five and Miles Murphy on court six. The doubles pairs are Nick Eury/Drew Hamilton, Nick Murphy/Miles Murphy and Bryce Cooper/Luke Strickland.
Nick Murphy is the team captain. He’s the only senior on the team.
“I’ve taken on the role of getting us ready for matches, hyping us up and getting our spirits up,” Murphy said. “Giving advice, things of that nature.
“We have a pretty good team this year, so it’s not a very hard job to do,” Murphy added.
The Scots are comfortable as teammates. Some of them have been playing together for a long time. That includes Eury and Hamilton, who advanced to regionals in doubles last year.
“Me and my partner have been playing for a long time, so our chemistry is really there,” Hamilton said.
The Scots don’t have any non-conference games on their schedule. Their match against Lumberton was Scotland’s last duel for at least three weeks; the NCHSAA suspended spring sports until April 6 due to concerns about coronavirus.
When the Scots return to action, they’ll try to use some of the lessons they learned during last year’s playoff run as they move through the rest of their SAC schedule.
“We learned about how hard you really have to work,” Murphy said. “It’s a mental game as much as a physical game. You can’t get down on yourself; that’ll lead to a loss.”
“You’ve got to stay positive if you get down,” Hamilton said. “You’ve got to keep your spirits up and bring yourself back if you’re down.”
Scotland finished in third place out of seven teams in the SAC standings last season. Seventy-First did not field a tennis team.
