From Coach Bob Long:
     The Chillicothe varsity boys' tennis (2-2) team traveled to St. Joseph and played the Bishop LeBlond Eagles, Tuesday afternoon at Noyes Courts. LeBlond won the match 5-4. Gabe Poling defeated Nolan Nadolski, 8-3 in the
number one singles. They began the match, winning games back and forth, before Gabe was able to pull away and secure the win. Nate McKiddy lost a hard fought match, 6-8, to the senior Drake Ford. Garrett Peterson lost 5-8 to Steven Mears of LeBlond. Freshmen Nathan Sims lost 2-8 to the LeBlond freshmen John Lierz. They will certainly have future meetings. Brandon Lamp defeated Spencer Joe, 8-3 in Chillicothe's only other singles victory. Brandon was able to frustrate the more experienced player and get the win. Quinten Lewis was defeated at number six, 4-8, by Matthew Hall of LeBlond. In doubles action, the team of Poling and Sims defeated Nadolski and Ford, 8-6. First time partners Gabe and Nathan, started slowly losing the first three games, before turning it on, and winning 8 of the final 11 games. McKiddy and Peterson defeated the number two team of LeBlond, Mears and Lierz, 9-8 (7-4). Nate and Garrett trailed closely the entire match before gaining ground at the end, and playing tough in the tie-breaker.
Lamp and Lewis played a competitive doubles match against Joe and Hall, but were unable to get the victory losing 4-8.
     I was extremely proud of the effort. Bishop LeBlond has defeated all of the other teams in our conference and they have a great deal more experience than the young Chillicothe squad. Needing to win all of the doubles, Gabe and Nathan won a grind it out match, keeping us in the dual. Lewis and Lamp having already lost the number three doubles match, Nate and Garrett continued to fight hard to advance to a tie-breaker, prevailing 7-4.