Starr's Mill boys bring home state tennis championship

The Starr’s Mill varsity boys tennis team captured the AAAA state title on Saturday and, like any good champion, they had to deal with some adversity on the way.

Due to some miscommunication, the boys arrived six minutes late and were penalized two games and a loss of a serve in their semifinal match against Lakeside, Evans meaning that everyone started down 0-2 and returning serves. The Panthers dug in and won the match, 3-1. The win pitted Starr’s Mill against their rivals, the McIntosh Chiefs.

“We know each other way too well, since the teams train together, and it is like playing your brothers,” head coach Ronald Mann said of his team and the Chiefs. The teams split during the season with Starr’s Mill winning 3-2 in the regular season and McIntosh winning in the region finals 3-2. On Saturday, Starr’s Mill won 3-1. “We played grear as a team,” said Mann.

Winners for Starr’s Mill in the final were Jimmy Lange over Billy Pemu, 6-2, 6-3, the doubles team of John Flowers and Blake Traeger, 6-3, 6-2 and the number one doubles team of Ian Lennox and Adam Springstroh 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. the match between Starr’s Mill’s Alex Ford and McIntosh’s Austin Emmett was a split with Ford winning the first set 7-5 and Emmett winning the second set 7-6 (13-11). McIntosh’s point came from Jake Koonce who topped Jonathon Lee 6-3, 6-3.

This was the first state championship for boys' tennis for any public school below the highest playing level AAAAA since 1999. In 2008, the Panthers placed third and last year they finished as state runners-up behind Marist.

The Starr’s Mill Lady Panthers finished in third place.