By Carl Holcomb
Moorefield Examiner
The East Fairmont Bees buzzed with a vengeance in the battle of the Bees ousting the Yellow Jackets from the hive 4-1 to ruin the second straight appearance for the senior laden Moorefield Boys Tennis team at the WVSSAC Class A/AA State Tennis Tournament in Charleston last Thursday.
Moorefield had higher expectations returning to Charleston for the second time in school history as the three-time Potomac Valley Conference champions with a regular season 4-3 win over the Bees.
There were some pesky bees swarming the courts and disrupting the matches to some degree as East Fairmont’s players needed to swat them away.
The second match between these two hive minded teams proved to favor the Bees.
“It’s an honor as always. Our seniors have worked really hard for what they’ve accomplished in their four years. It is bittersweet to see them leave, but I know they are on to bigger and better things. It’s an honor to be down at the state tournament once again,” Moorefield Boys Tennis coach Quincy Combs explained.
The state tournament match started with doubles competition featuring Moorefield Boys Tennis No. 1 Doubles seniors Lian Mung and Levi Malcolm facing off against East Fairmont’s Hunter Bragg and Haydyn Dudash.
The Bees duo managed to get the upper hand with an 8-3 victory, despite a solid start with serves by Mung.
“It was very fun. I enjoyed my time here. I am disappointed we lost, but the journey is what matters. My favorite part would be playing doubles with my partner Levi and playing as a team. They played a lot better than before, but it was a close match and they improved a lot,” Moorefield senior Lian Mung stated.
East Fairmont countered with a few leading plays at the net before one crazy shot out of play and a joke about being terrible.
Mung worked on back hand volleys, while Malcolm created good returns at the net.
“It was very fun, but I was very tired today. It was too hot out here. Spending time with my friends and playing tennis here my senior was my favorite part. The heat was the main difference. My forehand and serves were pretty good today,” Moorefield senior Levi Malcolm commented.
The Bees were able to find a better system later in the match to counter the volleys and notched lobs over the net forcing Mung to hustle across the back row.
East Fairmont Boys Tennis No. 2 Doubles partners of Kollin Maxey and Isaiah Ferrell knocked out Moorefield seniors Hunter Mongold and Will Keplinger 8-5, despite powerful serves coming from the Yellow Jackets.
Mongold made great plays at the net early in the match.
Keplinger kept the match close at 3-2 with good serves, but East Fairmont had a little magic trick scoring off the top of the net.
A few returns went awry, but Keplinger used his height to an advantage with big slams at the net and his long arms helped with back hand saves.
“It has been an honor to represent Moorefield. The matches were difficult today. I wish we could have done better, but in the end we didn’t and that’s alright. I think a lot of it was that we didn’t have enough time to practice as the past few days have been rainy. I think nerves got to myself and some other people today. My favorite part was just the people. I have been friends with everybody for years and it’s good to spend time with each other. It is good to finish it all together here,” Moorefield senior Will Keplinger noted.
Mongold roamed the net with precision returns, but the Bees kept attacking to force errors.
“It was pretty exciting and it was nice to go again. Getting to play tennis and being with friends was the best part of the tournament. The environment was the biggest difference. East Fairmont’s courts aren’t the best and it was just situational stuff,” Moorefield senior Hunter Mongold said.
Moorefield Boys Tennis No. 3 Doubles partners of senior Hayes Sherman and sophomore Stewart Monroe edged East Fairmont’s Braedon Thompson and Adam Morris 8-6 for the lone Yellow Jackets win.
Sherman had several leaping slams at the net, but also had to dodge a quick return which was met at the back row by Monroe.
Sherman kept East Fairmont off-balanced with early accurate serves, while Monroe had sensational returns at the net.
“I am very prideful about Moorefield. I am proud of our school. It has been a great four years with our blood, sweat, tears, money, time and effort. We put everything into it. I can’t complain. It has been a great experience. My favorite part is slamming that ball. The best stress reliever you can have is slamming it, Moorefield senior Hayes Sherman remarked.
The heat kept rising on the clear day at Charleston Catholic High School and the bees kept flying around the courts.
During the team competition’s singles format, Bragg defeated Mung 8-4 in the top seeded match and Dudash beat Malcolm 8-4 in the second seeded match.
Mung needed to take a short break due to heat exhaustion.
Scoring wasn’t taken down for the third and fourth seed singles matches as East Fairmont collected the points needed to win 4-1.
Mongold had great back hand volleys during the singles match and Keplinger slammed the ball at the net.
Charleston Catholic eliminated East Fairmont 4-nil en route to the 13th state championship in program history.
Due to inclement weather, the second day of the state tennis tournament was moved indoors creating a setback for the remainder of the tournament action.
Moorefield’s Lian Mung and Hunter Mongold waited until Saturday to play their singles matches.
Mung lost to Chapmanville Senior’s Colson Vance 8-nil and Mongold was edged by East Fairmont’s Hunter Bragg 9-7 in a tiebreaker to conclude the Yellow Jackets journey in Charleston during the first round.
