The Russellville High School varsity boys’ and girls’ tennis teams are headed back to the state tournament after both clinched Class 4A-5A Section 8 titles last Tuesday.
Both Golden Tiger teams competed in six championship matches each—four singles and two doubles matches—and came out on top in every single one.
Russellville senior and North Alabama commit Peyton Parrish paired with Sofia Tiffin to take down second-seeded Brooks 7-5, 6-0 in the No. 1 girls’ doubles championship. Kinsley Palmer and Lily Cate Pace did the same in the third flight, defeating the Brooks duo 6-4, 6-1.
Parrish, Tiffin, and Palmer were also three of Russellville’s four singles champs on the girls’ side. Seeded No. 3 in flight one, Parrish powered through to eventually topple the top seed, Deshler’s Landen McCalpin, 7-5, 6-0.
“Peyton Parrish, my number one, has been hurt for the majority of the year, and she’s only been back a couple of weeks,” Russellville girls’ head coach Charlotte Dollar said. “She played through a lot of pain to push through and help us get there and win another Section championship.”
Tiffin, in flight two, blew past the competition in her bracket, winning both the first two rounds 6-0, 6-0 before beating Brooks’ Darby Clark 6-0, 6-1 in the championship.
“Sophie Tiffin played lights out at number two. You couldn’t have played any better than her. She was amazing,” Dollar said.
Kinsley Palmer, seeded No. 2 in her bracket, dispatched Brooks’ Anna Lee Hall 6-2, 6-0 to win her singles title, while Sarah Kate Kiel, after battling through a tiebreaker in the semifinal round, went on to win the championship in her flight 6-3, 6-0 over Deshler’s Aleece Hollis.
“We had multiple who won in both singles and doubles championships,” Dollar said. “Everyone’s got to win (to win the Section title), so we’re just so proud of them for doing that.”
While praising her players, Dollar also gave credit to her other coaches who have assisted in the success of the team.
“I need to say that Leanne Strickland is the most amazing coach. She has helped us all these years to get to where we are. She’s a doubles specialist, and she’s helped us so much to be successful in doubles matches. We wouldn’t be here without her,” she said. “This year we’ve added Lee Taylor Bishop, and she’s been a big asset for us, as well.”
Russellville’s boys’ team’s doubles champions were Bralynn Vincent and Reece Carson in the No. 2 doubles championship and Malachi Duncan and Drew Strickland in flight three. The pair of Vincent and Carson sailed through their bracket, eventually taking the title from Deshler 6-0, 6-4. Seeded No. 2 in their bracket, Duncan and Strickland too faced Deshler in the final round, winning in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.
Vincent and Duncan were also among the Golden Tigers’ four singles champions in the boys’ tournament. The Tomas twins, Josue and David, were Russellville’s other two victors. Josue Tomas faced Wilson’s Noah Hetrick in an intense match that needed a tiebreaker to decide the winner. Josue, in the end, came out on top winning the third set 11-9.
David Tomas also needed a tiebreaker to beat his rival in the championship round, Deshler’s Brody Black. After dropping the opening set 2-6, David came back to win the next two 6-3, 10-5.
Vincent, the third seed in his bracket, rolled through to a 6-0, 6-1 championship win over Wilson’s Chandler Peters. Duncan took the first set and the tiebreaker against Freddy Franks of Wilson to round out the list of Russellville’s champs.
“We had six people playing in the championships and we won all six,” Phillips said. “I told the kids…if you take care of business, we’ll win.”
“We played four tiebreakers and we won them all. That’s all the kids and their will to fight and play hard. I’m just so proud of these kids, man. I love each and every one of them,” he added.
As predicted by both Russellville coaches, the tournament was a tight, competitive affair.
“It was super close,” Dollar said of the girls’ tournament. “Deshler and Brooks both have phenomenal teams and have been very successful this year. Brooks has been more successful this year than they’ve been in a long time, so we knew they would be tough. Their top three are just lights out. They are amazing players and so we feel very blessed and lucky to have been able to come out on top.”
On the boys’ side it was Deshler and Wilson that gave the Golden Tigers some fits.
“I mean, hats off to Deshler and Wilson. Out of the six championship matches, we played four tiebreakers,” Phillips said. “This boys section has been great. Deshler is always going to be good. Wilson is good. They have great coaches, they have great players, and it seems like they’re always bringing it.”
It is the second straight year that both the Russellville boys’ and girls’ teams have won the Section 8 tournament. Dollar and Phillips both credit their respective seniors for the roles they have played in the success of their teams.
“For this particular group, I have seven seniors who have been with us for a long time, and it’s amazing what they’ve been able to accomplish,” Dollar said. “We’ve been to state together a bunch of times and we are really excited to be able to take them back for their senior year. They’ve earned it.”
“My three seniors in this group, I had them in ninth grade…and I asked them if they would come out for tennis in the spring. They didn’t have a sport and I challenged them to play tennis, and they all laughed about it at first, but I told them they would be able to do something special if they really took a liking to it and worked hard at it,” Phillips said. “Reese Carson, this is his second year playing and he’s our number one seed. Bralynn Vincent, I put him at one doubles and threw him to the wolves and he really had to battle last year to get to where he is. And Malachi Duncan, too.”
“They believed what I said and they took it and ran with it. All I did was mention tennis and they did the rest. It’s all them, it’s all them,” he added.
All that remains for Russellville is the state tournament to be held in Mobile April 22-26, and both Golden Tiger squads are striving to make an impressive showing of it. Phillips, waiting to set specific goals for the tournament, said he hopes his team can improve on a couple of top 10 finishes the last few years. Dollar said a few of her players have the ability to make a run in Mobile, but whatever happens she’s excited for the journey.
“I feel like a couple of my players have a really good chance of going really deep at state. I hope one or two of them can pull off a win because it’d be amazing to have a state championship out of this bunch. And you never know, three or four of them could pull it off and we could have a team one,” Dollar said. “Sometimes it’s just luck of the draw. You’ve got to take your lumps with your good luck and see what happens. We’re just really thrilled to be going again. Anything that happens down there in our favor is just icing on the cake.”
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