LHS tennis wins 4th straight title
Published 11:05 am Tuesday, April 23, 2024
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Lafayette’s Finn. Rico returns a shot against Stone County in the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, April 22, 2024. Lafayette won 4-3 to win its 4th straight state title. (©Bruce Newman)
Lafayette’s Porter Lindsay returns a shot against Stone County in the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, April 22, 2024. Lafayette won 4-3 to win its 4th straight state title. (©Bruce Newman)
Lafayette’s Tatum Spicer serves against Stone County in the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, April 22, 2024. Lafayette won 4-3 to win its 4th straight state title. (©Bruce Newman)
Lafayette’s DJ Hayes celebrates his doubles win with Finn Rico over Stone County in the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, April 22, 2024. The win gave Lafayette a 4-3 victory to clinch its 4th straight state title. (©Bruce Newman)
Lafayette’s Finn Rico, left, and Jake Leary celebrate a win over Stone County in the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, April 22, 2024. Lafayette won 4-3 to win its 4th straight state title. (©Bruce Newman)
By Bruce Newman
Lafayette High won its fourth straight state championship with a dramatic 4-3 win over Stone County in the MHSAA Class 5A Tennis Championships played in Oxford on Monday.
With the match count tied at three, Lafayette’s boys’ doubles team of DJ Hayes and Finn Rico scored the last five points in a third-set tiebreaker to clinch the win.
Hayes and Rico defeated Stone County’s Cree Cunningham and Jon Cobb 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), (10-7).
Lafayette’s Jenna Lampton scored a shutout 6-0, 6-0 win over Saylor Powell and Stone County’s Lane Breland won over Lafayette’s Tatum Spicer 6-3, 6-4 in boys singles while.
Stone County’s mixed doubles team of Deakon Pearson and Arran Watson won 6-0, 6-0 over Lafayette’s Ethan Byrd and Sarah Puckett.
Lafayette’s Alexandra Lampton and Presley Thomas won 6-0, 6-1 over Stone County’s Makenzie Rogers and Cela Strickland.
Lafayette’s Porter Lindsay and Jake Leary won 6-2, 6-2 over Stone County’s Cayden Huse and Lincoln Cuevas as the Commodores took a 3-1 match lead.
Following Breland’s win making it 3-2, Lafayette had a chance to win in a girls’ doubles third-set tiebreaker; however, Bentli Spicer and Chloe Childress fell just short against Stone County’s Meredith Matthews and Josalynn Mossback, who won 6-3, 7-5, (13-11), which tied the score at three matches each.
Lafayette had reached the finals after defeating Brookhaven 4-3 in a semifinal match earlier in the day.