Published Thursday, April 24, 2008 1:47 PM
Updated Thursday, April 24, 2008 1:48 PM

 

Fort tennis team makes history

The Fort Dorchester boys’ tennis team will host its first home playoff match April 29.

The Patriot boys downed Battery Creek 7-0 Tuesday to clinch the No. 2 seed for Region 8-AAAA for the first time. Since Hilton Head was reclassified as a 3-A school several years ago, the region has been dominated by Beaufort and Summerville, which recently clinched its second consecutive region championship. Fort coach Scott Campsie sees this year’s finish as a milestone.

“We are looking forward to hosting a first-round playoff match,” Campsie said. “It should be a great experience for our players. I hope it will breath some life into this group. Our gauge for improvement has always been how we do against Summerville and Beaufort so I think splitting with Beaufort represents a turning point.”

When Campsie took over the Patriot program four years ago, his team didn’t perform that well in any of its matches with the Wave or the Eagles. The next year, the Patriots lost the matches, but were able to earn points across the board. The following season, the Patriots gave Beaufort a run for its money, but were still swept by the two region powerhouses.

This year the Fort defeated the Eagles in Beaufort to avenge an early season loss in North Charleston. The Patriots will earn the No. 2 seeding for the playoffs on a tiebreaker unless they upset Summerville in their final regular season match or Beaufort losses its final match. If either of the later is the case, the Fort will be the outright runner-up for the region.

Campsie lost his top three singles players to graduation at the end of last year so the rise of this year’s team was a bit unexpected. The Patriots only have three seniors among their top eight singles players, which left them starting two freshmen this season.

The young players have held their own. In fact, freshman Conner Clayton has held the No. 1 singles spot since early in the year.

“Conner has been our most consistent player,” Campsie said. “I am pleased with his development. He takes his role as the No. 1 player very serious and even though he is young, he pushes others on the team to be better. It’s going to be great having him for another three years. We also had a mix of other players step up at different times to help make this season.”

Clayton won his match against Battery Creek 6-0, 6-0. Joseph Harwood won the No. 2 match 6-0, 6-0. The team’s three seniors notched wins Tuesday with Gordon Wiesnet winning at No. 3 (6-0, 6-2), Ryan Daugherty winning at No. 4 (6-1, 6-0) and Kishan Bhula teaming up with Jacob Lilley for a No. 2 doubles win (6-1, 6-0). Spencer Wiesnet had a 6-1, 6-2 win in No. 5 singles play and Clayton and Gordon Wiesnet earned an 8-3 doubles victory.

The Fort improved its season record to 10-4 with a 7-2 standing in the region with only a match against Summerville remaining. That match was played Thursday after press time.