LUMBERTON — Josh Britt and Cole Lewis secured a return trip to regionals for the Lumberton tennis team in doubles action and John Floyd qualified in the singles bracket as the Pirates logged a third-place finish in the Sandhills Athletic Conference championship on Thursday.

Britt and Lewis advanced to the championship match to become one of five pairs from the conference to advance to regionals. They started the tournament with a win over Purnell Swett’s team of Jydor Locklear and Jaron Cummings before defeating Pinecrest’s duo of Jesse Meacham and Cody Stokes.

Pinecrest’s Will Bode and Charlie Hodges won the first set of the championship match 6-0 before winning the second by a score of 6-3 to take home the conference title.

Lumberton head coach Jeff Kinlaw said Britt and Lewis have matured since last year’s appearance at regionals.

“They really have improved in a lot of ways with their serves and working as a team,” Kinlaw said. “They’ve had a year to mold themselves and get better and understand how each other plays.”

Lewis said the competition they faced in the tournament gave the pair a glimpse of what to expect at regionals.

“I felt like we could have done better against Pinecrest, but they’re probably the best team we’ll face all year,” Lewis said.

After falling to eventual champion Aidan Temple of Pinecrest in the second round of the singles bracket, Floyd defeated Richmond’s Bradford Pittman and Kristofer Spivey in consolation play to secure his spot at regionals.

Floyd and Spivey battled through three sets, with Floyd earning a 7-1 victory in the tiebreaker.

“I’m just taking it a game at a time at this point,” Floyd said. “We’ll see who I play in the first round (of regionals).”

Lumberton finished in a tie with Jack Britt for third place behind conference champion Pinecrest and Scotland. Richmond took fourth place while Purnell Swett and Hoke tied for fifth. Seventy-First finished in last place.

“I’m really proud of the guys. Their effort was outstanding,” Kinlaw said. “We had two gorgeous days for tennis and the tournament went really well.”

Kinlaw said the circumstances of the regional tournament have changed from last year, but Pirates still have a chance to make a run.

“We’re looking for some good things even though we’re in a different region than last year,” he said. “That Raleigh region is tough, but we’re going to go in there fighting.”

The conference tournament was scheduled to begin on Monday, but inclement weather pushed the opening round to Wednesday.

In the Three Rivers Conference tournament, St. Pauls had three players qualify for regionals. Carlos Luna, Israel Gonzalez and Jorge Martínez will represent the Bulldogs at the regional tournament.

Lewis
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_Cole-Lewis201841919141990-1.jpgLewis

Floyd
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_IMG_57032018426171325776.jpgFloyd

Britt
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_IMG_57062018426171326936.jpgBritt

Brandon Tester

Staff writer

Reach Brandon Tester at 910-816-1989 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrandonTester.