FINAL FOUR

 The Corbin Redhounds are in the final four of high school tennis. With its win over Estill County and Russell in the Section Four Tournament at Corbin Saturday the Redhounds advanced to the state final four with Lone Oak, Louisville St. Xavier and Richmond Model.

In Monday’s state tournament draw the Redhounds drew Richmond Model. They will play Friday night at the University of Kentucky Tennis Courts.

Richmond Model came out of Section Three with wins over Casey County, 3-0 and Covington Catholic, 3-1.

Lone Oak, the winner of Section One, will play Louisville St. Xavier. Lone Oak defeated Caldwell County, 3-0 and Greenwood 3-2. St. Xavier shutout both of its sectional opponents, Elizabethtown and Trinity, 3-0.

Corbin defeated Estill County in the first-round of the Sectional, 3-0.  Brody Freeman (#1-seeded) defeated Garett Costantino, 6-0, 6-0 while Taylor Jones ran past Dee Banks, 6-0, 6-0. William Reedy played in the number three spot and defeated his opponent by default, 6-0, 6-0.

With the three wins in singles the doubles’ teams did not have to finish their matches as the team receiving three points first ends the match. Seth Heinss and Avery Warf had defeated Trevor Freeman and Kelby Robinson, 6-1 in the first set.

Number two-seeded Anthony Warf and Josh Jewell had defeated Justin Winkler and Matthew Smith, 6-0 and was leading 3-0 when Redhounds won the match.

“I knew we could compete, but I knew Russell was such a strong team,” said Corbin Coach Curt Hart. “They have always been strong on the state level.”

“I knew we had a shot, but I knew all five matches would be very competitive,” added Hart. “It was hard for Coach (Mike) Cook and me to coach. It was like we needed to be on the very court, but I was really pleased and how they stepped up.”

The Redhounds took on the 16^th region champions, who had defeated Lawrence County earlier in the day, 3-0.

Every match was down to the wire with the leads going back and forth. Freeman had a tough time getting past Taylor Nguyen 7-6, 6-1. The first set saw Freeman come from behind to post the close win.

Jones won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2 while eighth grader Reedy was in the third set when the victory was declared. Reedy beat Alex Nguyen, 6-3, but lost the second set 4-6.

It was the doubles that clinched the victory for the Redhounds. Heinss and Warf lost to Austin Christie and Matthew Eastham, 6-1, 6-4. But, the duo of Jewell and Anthony Warf, defeated Miles Mussetter and Paul Spradln 6-3 in the first set before losing the second set by an overwhelming margin, 6-0. However, they regrouped for the third set and took a 7-5 win that pushed the Redhounds to the state final four.

“Seth and Avery won the region, but it was my number two doubles that clinched it for us,” said Hart.

With this being the inaugural sectional, this is a great honor for Corbin High School,” said Hart.

Not only will the team be playing in the final four, but also several individuals will play for state titles.  Freeman is seeded eighth in singles and will take on Estill County’s Kelby Robinson in the first-round. Taylor Jones will face Reza Haider of Elizabethtown in his first-round match-up.

Whitley County’s William Tan, who was seeded in the top 16, will meet Ashland’s Robby Berry.

The blind draw matched the regional championship team of Avery Warf and Heinss against North Laurel’s Brad Baker and Rajeey Jadhav. The teams played in the semifinals of the region with Corbin taking the win by default.

Whitley County’s Danny Butcher and Pete Comparoni, the region runner-up, will take on Elizabethtown’s Bilal Ahmed and Taylor Thomas.

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The Corbin girls lost in the finals of the Sectional to Russell, 3-2. The Lady Redhounds defeated Letcher Central, 3-0.

In the finals, Sydney Ledington defeated Mallory Powell, 6-3, 6-0 and the doubles team of Catherine Crawford and Caroline Reedy defeated Anna Renear and Kimberly Eastham, 6-2, 6-1.

Corbin lost two singles’ matches as Bailee Freeman lost to Kiestin Hensley, 6-2, 6-2 and Emma Kate Carloftis lost to Maci Ferguson, 6-2, 6-2. The doubles team of Erin Hart and Kaclyn lost to Andrea Wise and Kelsey Hensley, 7-5, 6-2.

Ledington will play in the state tournament this week. She will face Trimble County’s Kasi Fogle while Bailee Freeman will take on Raceland seventh-grader Micah Leslie.

Williamsburg’s Lan Yang will play in her first state tournament. She will take on Brook Curry of Casey County.

In doubles, Corbin’s Erin Hart and Jaclyn Jewell will meet Highlands’ Lauren Harrett and Hannah Laskey. Whitley County’s duo of Megan Paul and Kayla Sears will battle Kristen Blair and Erica Meade of Letcher Central.