By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–The final day of the regular season was a time of celebration for the Union City High School tennis program.
Five seniors were recognized for their career accomplishments, and the Lady Tornado team was presented with hardware for its fifth consecutive district championship before UC split matches with Westview on Thursday afternoon.
The Union City girls improved to 15-3 heading into the postseason with a rain-shortened 6-0 triumph. The boys saw their team season end with a 5-12 mark following a 3-2 loss that saw two matches suspended.
The tradition-rich Lady Tornadoes – winners of 27 district titles in their program history, including four state runner-up finishes – will host Scotts Hill either Wednesday or Thursday next week. UC will be seeking its 16th regional championship.
Before that, both the UC girls and boys will play in the district individual championships on Monday and Tuesday at the Union City Middle School courts.
Seniors Shelby Bondurant, Molly Kizer, Bryce White, Lyndon Brown, and Jack Tully were honored in pre-match ceremonies prior to UC’s matches against Westview.
Bondurant and Kizer – state runners-up in Class 1A doubles a year ago – both now have at least 110 career victories with their singles and doubles wins combined after each won twice convincingly on Thursday.
Bondurant, who has played as the No. 1 singles seed since her freshman campaign, is now 114-60. Kizer has a 110-59 mark.
Together, they sport a 31-12 record in two years as a doubles tandem.
White finished his prep career with an 8-4 singles triumph against Benjamin Braddock.
Girls
Singles
Shelby Bondurant vs. Ryne Roney 8-1
Molly Kizer vs Kendall Thomas 8-2
Dani Frankum vs. Camila Mercado 8-2
Davey Frankum vs. Deborah Shaw 8-1
Emma Mobbs vs. Kate Stroh 8-2
Bertie Jenkins vs. Gryphon Rowland 6-1
Josie Ross vs. Mari Rodriquez 6-2
Lexi Petty vs. Ella Hamlin 6-0
Doubles
Bondurant/Kizer vs. Shaw/Stroh 8-1
Frankum/Frankum vs. Mercado/Rowland 2-1 (Match suspended due to rain)
Boys
Singles
Bryce White vs. Benjamin Braddock 8-4
Lyndon Brown vs. Dylan Parker 4-8
Kobe Kirk vs. Connor Newsom 2-8
Grant Sinclair vs. Brady Lemons 8-2
Foster Rodgers vs. Hayden Dennison 1-8
Byron Abbott vs. Atari Thomas 5-5 (Match suspended due to rain)
Doubles
White/Brown vs. Parker/Newsom 5-1 (Match suspended due to rain)
HIGH SCHOOL TRACK
37 UC athletes qualify for sectionals
Union City will take a large group to next week’s sectionals at Lakeland Preparatory School – each hoping to secure a spot in the Spring Fling state meet.
The Top 8 from subsectional earned the right to move on, and several Tornado athletes qualified in multiple events with their Thursday performances. A number of others were waved on to the sectional after posting earlier high-ranking times.
The sectional field events and the 4X800 relays will be held on Tuesday next week, with the remainder of the running events held on Thursday at LPS.
Debrionna Jones won both the shot put and discus for the UC girls in the subsectionals. Teammates Ca’Lae Ervin and Allysia Davis will join her in the sectionals in the shot put, while Brooklyn Murphy and Aaliyah Abbott also qualified in the discus.
Bailey Wagoner earned berths in the 1600 and 3200-meter runs, while Davis and Ervin made it in the high jump. Ervin, also a state qualifier in the pentathlon, will compete in a third sectional event after making it in the 100-meter hurdles. Aujani Moss locked up spots in the 100 and 200.
Blair McKinnis qualified in the 800, Jayla Turner punched her ticket in the 400, and Ada Rogers will represent Union City in the 300-meter hurdles. Nakyah Yarbrough made it in the 100, and Katana Bonds did the same in the triple jump.
All four girls’ relay teams are also headed to the sectionals.
On the boys’ side, Kameron Shade won the 100 and 200 to headline five first-place efforts Thursday, leading a big contingent to qualifiers for the sectionals. Shon Fuller will join Shade in both of those races.
Adrian Crawford won the long jump and will participate in the high jump and triple jump at the next level. Malaki Brooks took first place in the 400, and Keaten Brown claimed honors in the shot put.
Brown will also compete in the discus, along with Kyle Price. Aiden Reid and Alijah Simpson qualified with Brown in the shot put.
D.J. Evans moved on in the 110 hurdles and 300-meter hurdles and will be joined by Martez Lipford in the latter event. Jaylen Marshall qualified in the 400 meters.
Woodrow McKinnis will move in both the 1600 and 3200. Rushdon Howell will join him in the two-mile race. Kobe Kirk made it in the high jump, and Jaedyn Sims, along with Tayshun Gentry, made it in both the long and triple jump.
The Tornadoes also qualified in all four relay races like their girl counterparts.
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
UC-Dresden postponed until today
Mother Nature was the winner in the District 14A Tournament Thursday.
The winner’s bracket game between second-seeded Union City and No. 1 Dresden was postponed by a heavy downpour that left field conditions unplayable.
The contest has been rescheduled for tonight at 6:30, with the winner securing a berth in the tourney championship game that is now slated for Monday at 4:30 p.m.
South Fulton did finish its 8-1 elimination victory over Lake County before the rains came.
Greenfield led Gleason 5-4 with two outs in the top of the fifth, but that game was suspended and will be resumed this afternoon at 5
Today’s originally scheduled games have been moved to Saturday at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., respectively.
MIDDLE SCHOOL TENNIS
UC 7, Obion County 0 (G)
UC 3, Obion County 0 (B)
Union City’s middle school tennis teams closed out their season in impressive fashion, beating Obion County for the second time this spring.
After dropping their season opener, the Tornado squads won every match thereafter to finish the year with a 6-1 mark.
The Lady Twisters lost just two games in seven matches vs. OC Thursday.
UC’s boys posted three 6-0 shutouts in their victory.
Girls Singles
Emma Jane Rice v. Anna Heathcott won 6-2
Stella Turner v. Benson White 4-0
Blythe Ogden v. Jenna Johnson 5-0
Rylan Ali Bondurant v. Layla McBride won 6-0
Phoebe Coleman v. Sy Campbell won 6-0
Averi Riley v. Aubry McManus won 6-1
Marley Waddell v. Evie Cox won 6-2
Girls Doubles
Rice/Ogden v. Heathcott/ White won 6-0
Turner/Bondurant v. Johnson/McBride won 6-0
Coleman/Riley v. Campbell/ McManus won 6-1
Boys Singles
Camden Dawkins v. Liam Clark won 6-0
Kipton Powers v. Matthew Kendall won 6-0
Boys Doubles
Powers/Dawkins v. Clark/Kendall won 6-0
HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER
Ripley 5, UC 1
Tornado head coach Travis VanHooser used his team’s regular-season finale to get playing time for several support players on the team this season.
Among those were Cole Gurley, Alex Landeros, Brandt Huffstutter, and Jay Allen, who played significant minutes and greatly contributed to the team this year.
“Those young men practice every day and show up to games to support the varsity team,” VanHooser claimed. “I thought they were deserving of some playing time.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to come out on top, but it wasn’t from a lack of effort. Despite the conditions (rainy and muddy field), the entire team played extremely hard and stayed level-headed.”
Joseph Lattus had the Tornadoes’ lone goal, scoring in the first half off a pass from Marcos Landeros.
Ka’Jaylon Bell had 15 saves in goal for UC, which will take a 7-3-3 record into Tuesday’s district semifinal game.