Salem-GHS Meet in Tennis

The Salem and Glenvar tennis teams will go head to head next Monday. The Spartans will host the boys’ match and the girls will play at Glenvar.

The Salem High tennis teams split matches with Lord Botetourt last week as the boys won at Hollins University and the girls lost at home.

Friday’s match was the opener for the Salem boys and they edged LB 5-4. Number one Drew Perez, back in Salem from Smith Stearns Tennis Academy in South Carolina, won 6-0, 6-0 at number one while Logan Butcher won at two and Dev Patel at six as the two split singles.

Perez and Butcher won at number one singles but Salem lost at number two. The deciding point came at three as Chance Long and Mason Stavola won 8-3 to give Salem the win.

“Chance and new senior starter Mason Stavola commanded both the net and midcourt,” said Salem coach Steve Lily. “The Salem squad, overall, has the skills to play full-court tennis. Competing well against a good team was a good first step.”

The Salem girls played at home and three of the top four were missing for Debate and the State Science Fair. Salem fell 6-3 in the match with Caroline Loveday and Christine Burr winning singles and the team of Loveday and Elisa Nguyen winning at doubles.

“We did the best we could,” said coach Jill Perez. “Hopefully, we will get them next time with a full line up.”

The Spartans will play Blacksburg on Friday with the boys at home and the girls at Blacksburg.

The Glenvar tennis teams won Three Rivers District matches last Thursday against Patrick County. The boys won 8-1 at home and the girls took a 6-3 win in Stuart.

“We finally had our first good week of practice last week and our boys played very well,” said GHS boys coach Bob Haynie. “Patrick County was 3-1 coming into the match so I was very happy with that result.”

The girls got singles wins from Shawna Garwood, Rebecca Magruder, Karis Gillespie, Rayah Kelley and Chelsea Garwood. Garwood and Magruder won at doubles to close out the final score.