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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

Davie’s tennis team ripped off a 26-1 run in the first three matches of the season, because, well, of course it did. That’s what the War Eagles do every year.

In the opener on the road on Aug. 13, they overmatched Forbush 9-0. In singles, Elliot Newsome, Corbin Drum, Leah Gibson, Casey Cao, Kate Chaffin and Bailey Aderhold all won 6-0, 6-0 – except for one set that was 6-1. It was more of the same in doubles as Newsome/Gibson won 8-1, Drum/Aderhold 8-0 and Chaffin/Ola Leszczuk 8-0.

Chaffin and Leszczuk could not have started their high school careers any better.

“Kate got the jitters out yesterday (in a scrimmage) and she rocked and rolled today,” coach Collin Ferebee said. “She really impressed me.”

Then the freshmen teamed up at No. 3 doubles. Last year Chaffin was Ellis’ No. 1, while Leszczuk was the top player at North Davie.

“Yeah, I’m pretty happy with the first showing in high school for the two of them,” Ferebee said.

Davie 8, Reynolds 1

Davie made a major statement in the Central Piedmont Conference opener against the visiting Demons on Aug. 19.

Last year, Davie and Reynolds split a pair of 5-4 dogfights, the second matchup marking the end of two record streaks for Davie – 35 straight wins in the regular season and a 30 win streak in the CPC.

But Davie had little trouble with the Demons this time around. The issue was settled in singles, where Davie got wins from Newsome (6-0, 6-0), Drum (6-3, 6-7, 10-7), Cao (6-3, 6-3), Aderhold (6-2, 6-1) and Chaffin (6-1, 6-1).

Sweeping doubles were Newsome/Gibson (8-4), Drum/Aderhold (8-1) and Chaffin/Leszczuk (8-1).

“For our first big test of the season, I think it’s harder to pass it better than we just did,” Ferebee said.

Drum’s triumph in a tiebreaker was easily the most exciting match.

“I think it’s a match that Corbin probably wouldn’t have won last year because she would have gotten so frazzled in her head,” Ferebee said. “She got frustrated, we talked a little  bit, she took a deep breath and she won 10-point breaker. That’s where we’ve grown mentally because Corbin and Leah have taken a big jump and those are matches they wouldn’t have done as well in last year. That really bodes well for the future.”

Ferebee gave the player of the match to Gibson because of the way the sophomore responded from her loss to junior Elizabeth Kim. In doubles, Gibson teamed up with Newsome and got revenge against Kim.

“She played the girl who played No. 1 all of last year,” Ferebee said. “The score looks like she got beat pretty bad, but to be a sophomore playing against the old No. 1, she actually played really well. She didn’t let (the singles loss) get her down. She showed a lot of mental strength that she’s grown from since last year. Rather than dwelling on the loss, she got redemption and beat (Kim) in doubles and hit a ton of good serves and volleys.”

Davie 9, EF 0

The home match against lowly East Forsyth went exactly like the War Eagles had planned. They rolled to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the CPC with their 45th win in 49 tries across four years.

The singles scores were 6-1, 6-0 for Newsome and 6-0, 6-0 for Drum, Gibson, Aderhold, Cao and Chaffin.

“They’re inexperienced,” Ferebee said of East. “They have a great group of girls. They have a new coach. I think if she sticks around awhile, she can get them to be competitive. I think they have a good future if they stick together.”

Cao/Chaffin won 8-3 at No. 1 doubles, Lena Parsley/Bethany Jacobs won 8-3 at No. 2 and Leszczuk/Victoria McFarlin won 8-0 at No. 3.

Parsley, Jacobs and McFarlin all made their season debuts, and Ferebee’s players of the match were the sophomores at No. 2 doubles.

“Lena is real big in the marching band and Bethany is a lacrosse player, so I wasn’t really sure what they were going to bring this year,” he said. “They’ve impressed at practice and they’ve impressed in some exhibition matches. So I threw them in today. I said: ‘Hey, you’re getting your first start of the year, show me what you’ve got.’ They played the three and four seeds from East and just absolutely dominated from beginning to end. I can’t ask for anymore than that.”