Rocky Mount High struggles with consistency in loss to Wilson Fike

WILSON — The pressure heaped onto the shoulders of Tyler Brice and George Shannon is nothing new.

From the outset of the season, the pair of sophomores knew Rocky Mount High needed the two of them to win in singles and then combine for a win in doubles if the Gryphons stood a chance at beating some of the better teams in the state. If the duo was able to secure three points on their own, then the Gryphons needed just two points from their remaining six matches.

It was a formula that earned them a critical win over Wilson Fike the first go-around, but didn’t work Thursday night in a 7-2 loss to the Golden Demons. Both Brice and Shannon remained perfect as individuals by winning their singles matches, but struggled in their doubles match to suffer their first loss of the year as a duo.

“We’ve talked to about the fact that we’re getting wins at (Nos.) 1 and 2 and No. 1 doubles and we just need to find two more wins against these really good teams,” coach Berry Nethercutt said. ”They know that if they don’t get a win we have no shot, so I think both of them feel a certain amount of pressure in that way.”

Shannon had a relatively straightforward 6-2, 6-3 victory over John Gliarmis, but Brice had to fight hard to earn his 6-4, 6-4 win over Sunny Sandhu.

The sophomore fell behind 4-1 with screams of frustration filling the air around the court. Those moments seemed to rile up the group of supporters that had gathered to cheer for Sandhu.

However, Brice used a lot of the emotion to re-focus and alter his strategy, allowing him to charge back and capture five straight games to win the first set. He began to pick on Sandhu’s forehand which either forced errors from the Fike senior or opened the court for Brice to attack.

“He was a little too-hyped up, he was missing more shots than he normally misses because I think he was trying to go for too much,” Nethercutt said. ”Ty’s a gamer. … He doesn’t let his emotions affect him negatively and he keeps thinking throughout the match. Really mature for a sophomore.”

The second set was a much-different battle as Sandhu adjusted his forehand slightly and forced yet another tactical change from Brice. In that set, the sophomore pounded Sandhu to one side of the court to open up a winner on the other side. The second set featured eight straight games when no one held serve before Brice finally closed the deal on his serve.

His top-two players aside, Nethercutt said the key to the match was going to be whether his other four singles players could remain consistent throughout the match. The Gryphons’ Nos. 3-6 singles players struggled mightily with their Fike counterparts’ speed, winning only 11 games between the eight sets played.

“I saw more (Wednesday) against Hunt,” Nethercutt said. ”It’s harder against Fike at (Nos.) 4, 5 and 6 because their pace really makes it difficult for us to be as consistent as I would like us to be. They’re hitting balls that we simply can’t be in position to be consistent, but we’re improving with it.”

The loss sets up a winner-takes-all match Tuesday against Southern Nash at home for the second spot in the state playoffs. For a program that has not made the playoffs since 2010, the victory would mean a lot to this group.

“We struggled so much last year and they’ve put in a ton of work and have seen the difference that work has made,” Nethercutt said. ”It would mean so much to them this year … but we need to be consistent against Southern Nash on Tuesday.”

by Josh Walfish
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Thursday, April 14, 2016