Bears win two straight

Published 12:00 am Thursday, September 15, 2005

Hertford County swept a pair of tennis outings in the past week.

Tuesday afternoon, the Bears stopped Currituck 5-4 to boost their Northeastern Coastal Conference record to 3-3.

Teamed up just minutes earlier, Lyndsay Burns and Becca Barket earned a 10-1 win at number two doubles to pace the the HCHS tennis team to the 5-4 win.

Up 4-2 after singles play, Coach Rick Heckler’s crew needed just one win in doubles to seal the victory, but an illness forced the second-year coach to make some lineup changes.

&uot;Becca has been playing very well of late,&uot; said Heckler, &uot;so I moved her up for the ill Sarah Brown and she and Lyndsay played a very solid doubles match.&uot;

Ally Rushing lost the first game of her singles match against Lyndsay Norris, but lost just one more in her 6-2, 6-1 win at number one.

Brown won her first set over Holly Harris at number two, but fell 0-6 in the second. She was able to muster up enough energy to win the tiebreaker 7-2 before retiring due to illness.

Lauren Baker won 6-3, 7-5 over Rose Drake at the number three seed and Burns defeated Jessica Meidinger 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 at number four.

Barket lost 3-6, 2-6 to Samantha Costell at number five and Cecilia Jones fell by 3-6, 4-6 scores to Cameron Spencer at number six.

With Rushing and Baker having trouble at the number one doubles against Norris and Harris, Burns and Barket defeated Drake and Costell and sealed the win for the Lady Bears.

Rushing and Baker ended up on the losing end of a 10-6 set. Jones and Kaylee Barket lost to Currituck’s Meidinger and Spencer by a 3-10 score at number three doubles.

&uot;The team is really starting to show improvement,&uot; added Heckler. &uot;We just need to keep working hard as the playoffs approach.&uot;

Before the win over Currituck, HCHS stopped Bertie last week.

Ally Rushing continued her winning ways in singles as the Hertford County High School women’s tennis team took a 6-3 win at Bertie last Thursday.

Rushing has lost only one conference singles match, to Edenton’s Abby Richmond. Against Bertie, she set the tone by disposing of Caroline Hoggard with identical 6-0 wins.

Teammate Sarah Brown defeated Holly Cowand 6-2, 6-1 at number two singles, followed by Lauren Baker’s 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) win over Megan Cowan and Lyndsay Burns’ 6-0, 6-0 defeat of Brittany Hoggard.

Bertie’s Jessica Jones defeated Cecilia Jones 6-0, 6-0, but the Lady Bear’s Becca Barket beat Allison Hoggard 6-0, 6-2 to clinch the match.

Rushing and Burns easily won in doubles 10-2 over B. Hoggard and Jones and Brown and Baker bested Cowand and Cowan 10-3. Jones and Barket fell to Bertie’s C. Hoggard and Courtney Dunlow 6-7 (3-7).

The Lady Bears need to finish ahead of Currituck and Bertie in order to claim the 3A duel team playoff spot. The team has one more home match this week, hosting First Flight Thursday.