Amherst girls’ tennis improves to 6-1

The Amherst girls’ tennis team blitzed visiting Nelson County 9-0 to improve to 6-1 on the season as the Lancers continued to demonstrate their newfound success on Thursday.

“We’re playing really well right now, that’s the fifth shutout we’ve had,” Jones said.

Amherst advanced to the Region III tournament for the first time in Priscilla Jones’ five-year stint as the coach of the Lancers in 2008. They lost in the first round but are primed for a return to the Region III tournament this season as they trail only undefeated Jefferson Forest in Seminole District standings with a 3-1 district record.

“We placed second in the district and qualified for the regionals for the first time in a long time,” Jones said. “It was a major thing. The team has progressed. When I first started, we would win about half and lose about half (of our matches). We are all a team and we’ve worked really hard.”

But the Lancers aren’t going to be content with just returning to Region III tournament and they certainly aren’t ready to concede a Seminole District title to the Jefferson Forest Cavaliers. Amherst will host JF on April 23.

“We can beat them if the girls get their minds straight and believe they can beat them,” Jones said. “It’s all about the head. If you have the skills and you don’t get flustered by your opponent, you can do anything. If we go in with the idea this is JF and we can’t beat them and we never beat them, we won’t. That’s a huge hurdle to try and get over.”

“I think we are kind of past it now,” Lancers junior Jillian Rudge said. “We’ve played them enough now. Yeah, JF is good, but we can be just as good as them.”

Jones returned a good mix of experienced players and youngsters to build with for the future this season.

The team’s top two singles players are seniors Brittany sFreshour (No. 1) and Yuliya Rigg (No. 2). Freshour and Rigg also form the team’s top doubles team.

“They have worked really hard,” Jones said. “They have been playing during the summer. They’re pretty good leaders. They have been around now for four or five years. I keep telling them they have to be hungry.”

“I’ve been on the team all four years and I’ll be sad to leave, but I’m excited (about the rest of the season),” Freshour said.

“I definitely want to beat JF,” Rigg said. “They are our biggest rival and I want to get back to the regionals this year. I think now that we’ve played JF once already this year we will be better prepared this time.”

Freshman Linda Williams is the No. 3 singles player, Rudge is the No. 4 singles player, junior Lindsey Pryor is the No. 5 singles players and the No. 6 is freshman Megan Toone. Williams and Rudge form the No. 2 doubles team. Pryor and Toone make up the No. 3 doubles team.

One area that Jones believes they need to improve is the team’s doubles play.

“We can improve on doubles play, our movement,” Jones said. “We are strategizing pretty well, but we really need to work on doubles.”

As the team has improved, they are beginning to ser their sights higher and higher.

“I really want to go to (the Group AA state tournament),” Pryor said. “It might be a little bit of a stretch, but I think we have a chance.”

“Whatever tournament we are in we want to win it,” Jones said. “Whether it’s districts or regionals, we want to win it.”