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Comment by puckettd: Saturday, August 21

Thank you for remembering my grandmother and father. Donna Puckett, Jonesville NC...read more...

Obituary: Lorna Jo McBee, 14

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With loving prayers for the Mc Bee family. Your friends and family care deeply....read more...

Lincoln, Garrard eye regional detention center

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This issue is really confusing for me...some of the candidates at the last forum supported the idea....read more...

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BEREA – Lincoln County’s Cassie Smith played like a pro in her debut match in regional competition at Berea College Friday as she cruised to victory. But her first-time regional run would come to an abrupt end.

Russell County’s Alisha Dockery was no match for the Lincoln eighth-grader in the first round of the 12th Region Girls Tennis Tournament with Smith, who was playing as Lincoln’s top singles player, rolling to a 6-0, 6-0 victory.

However, the middle schooler’s regional march hit a road block in round two when she was pitted against Savanna Barnett of Mercer County, the tournament’s No. 3 seed. Smith did pick up a couple games against Barnett before being eliminated 6-2, 6-0.

“Cassie played well and played hard in both her matches,” said Lincoln coach Larry Nichols. “In the first match, Cassie was playing Russell County’s No. 2 player, who was older, but she (Smith) was a much stronger player. She had a pretty easy match with her. In the second round, she was playing one of the top players in Barnett. Cassie got beat, but she played well against a very tough player.”

Barnett lived up to her seeding, advancing to the semifinals where she was eliminated by eventual regional champion CeCe Witten of Boyle County, 6-0, 6-1.

Smith wasn’t alone in netting a win for Lincoln in the regional tournament. Lincoln’s No. 1 doubles team of Kylene Williams and Kathryn Miracle was victorious as well in the opening round, knocking off Russell County’s Caity Kerr and Megan Bloyd 6-1, 6-0.

The sophomore duo, seeded No. 7 overall, bowed out of the tournament in Saturday’s second round, however, as Emily Eicher and Jennifer Worley of Wayne County handed them a 6-2, 6-4 defeat.

“I thought Kylene and Kathryn got a good draw to start the tournament and, after giving up an early game, they just dominated Russell County,” said Nichols. “They played a very good team from Wayne. I don’t think that Wayne was any better than they were, but they just played the net so well. I thought they (Williams/Miracle) played much better the second set and they probably should have won that set. If they had played the first set as hard as they did the second, the outcome might have been different.”

Eicher and Worley went down to defeat in the next round, with eventual doubles champions Lauren Yates and Lee Baxter of Mercer County winning 6-0, 7-5.

Lincoln’s No. 2 singles player and doubles team bowed out in Friday’s first round. Alyssa Turner, an eighth-grader, was defeated by Southwestern’s Aarti Prabhu 6-0, 6-1, and the sophomore doubles team of Kelsey Henderson and Callie Taylor fell 6-1, 7-5 to Somerset’s Peters and Velagandla.

“Both Alyssa and our doubles team were matched up against good players,” Nichols said. “Alyssa played hard and made good shots but the other girl was just a better, more experienced player. Kelsey and Callie started slow but played considerably better as the match progressed. They got outplayed the first set of their match, then came back and had a chance to win the second set.”

With all of Lincoln’s regional contenders either sophomores or younger, Nichols says he feels the Lady Patriots have the potential to be in line for regional titles in the coming years.

“We’re young. We had four sophomores playing in the tournament and two eighth-graders and they all did relatively well,” he said. “Their age and inexperience didn’t hold them back this year and, next year, they’ll be another year older and a lot better. By the time those sophomores are seniors, I don’t see why we couldn’t be one of the top teams.”

Witten earned her sixth straight regional title on Sunday by beating Wayne’s Casi Clark, 6-1, 6-0, in the finals.

Mercer’s Yates and Baxter had to take out their own teammates for the doubles title. The pair beat Caitlin Baer and Allie Grant 6-3, 6-4 in the championship match. Mercer was the overall team champion. Boyle and Wayne tied for second, with Boyle taking the tiebreaker.

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