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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

The match at West Forsyth on Sept. 3 was just another typical day in the life and times of the Davie tennis team.

Davie demolished West 9-0 before blasting through Parkland later in the week.

Elliot Newsome (6-7, 6-1, 10-5), Corbin Drum (6-0, 6-0), Bailey Aderhold (6-1, 6-0), Leah Gibson (6-0, 6-0), Casey Cao (6-1, 6-1) and Kate Chaffin (6-0, 6-0) put Davie’s seventh straight win over West in the bag in singles. Completing the shutout in doubles were Drum/Aderhold (8-0), Gibson/Ola Leszczuk (8-0) and Cao/Chaffin (8-1).

The match produced the biggest surprise of the season with Newsome coming out shaky and dropping her first set of the year. But Newsome found her mojo in the second set, dispatched a strong freshman (Celia Tonidandel) and picked up the 46th singles win of her career.

“It was interesting because they’ve known each other a really long time,” coach Collin Ferebee said. “Elliot was in her own head. (Tonidandel) is good, though. She is definitely good, no doubt about it. Her whole family is athletic. She comes from a pedigree of athleticism.

“I expected (Newsome) to drop a game or two because this is good competition, but she fell apart. We regrouped at the end of the first set. She was really frustrated with herself – understandably. I said: ‘Do what your dad always says: Go play tennis and go have fun. Nothing else matters.’ At that point, we’re already up 5-0, we’ve won the match, so it was more about personal glory at that point than team glory. I said: ‘Go be Elliot and go have fun.’ Then she started rolling.”

Gibson, a sophomore at No. 4, has had a wonderful rebound from two losses.

“Leah had had a bit of a tough run of late with the Reynolds and Tabor matches,” he said. “We spent some extra time on it at practice and reset. She didn’t get down on herself, she didn’t mope and complain. She worked extra hard and she played so much better.”

Davie 9, Parkland 0

Davie saw the expected outcome at Parkland on Sept. 5. All six singles matches went 6-0, 6-0. Ferebee let five reserves get some playing time in doubles, but it was still as lopsided as it gets.

Lena Parsley/Bethany Jacobs won 8-1 at No. 1 doubles, freshmen Leszczuk/Avery Gladd won 8-0 at No. 2 and Ada Wallace/Maddie Ratledge won 8-0 at No. 3.

Notes: The War Eagles (7-0 overall, 6-0 CPC) have won every match 9-0 or 8-1 despite having just one senior (Newsome) in the singles lineup. … Davie has outscored opponents 60-3.