North Lenoir tennis stays hot with wins over Ayden-Grifton, Southwest Edgecombe

North Lenoir tennis stays hot with wins over Ayden-Grifton, Southwest Edgecombe

North Lenoir’s boys tennis team continued its strong start to the season by picking up wins over Ayden-Grifton and Southwest Edgecombe after falling in a pair of close non-conference matches to Clinton and Greene Central last week.

The Hawks improved to 8-3 overall and remained unbeaten in conference play at 5-0.

Against Ayden-Grifton, North Lenoir rolled to a 9-0 sweep, controlling the match from start to finish. Casey Alston, Maddox Smith, Asher Yarus, Tyler Carson and Timothy Wiggins all won their singles matches 8-0, while Caleb Espino added an 8-1 victory at No. 6 singles.

North Lenoir carried that same momentum into doubles play.

Alston and Smith stayed unbeaten as a doubles team with an 8-0 win at No. 1 doubles. Yarus and Carson earned an 8-1 victory at No. 2 doubles, while Wiggins and Espino closed out the sweep with an 8-0 win at No. 3 doubles.

Alston and Smith have been the tone-setters for North Lenoir all season.

Both seniors are undefeated in singles play at 10-0, and the duo is also 7-0 together in doubles competition.

Other top performers for the Hawks this season include Yarus at 6-4 in singles, Carson at 7-3, Wiggins at 6-3 and Espino at 5-3. In doubles, Carson and Yarus are 5-3, while Espino and Wiggins are 4-3.

North Lenoir’s unbeaten conference mark shows the Hawks have responded well after their early non-league tests, and the team continues to build momentum as the season moves forward.