Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Mountain Brook’s Pippa Roy returns the ball as she competes in a doubles match with Annie Lacy against Shades Valley in the Class 6A tennis sectionals at the Pell City Civic Center on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Photo by Erin Nelson.
The Mountain Brook High School tennis teams begin their quests for state glory Thursday morning at the Mobile Tennis Center. The two-day tournament will be completed Friday afternoon.
Mountain Brook’s girls have been on a dominant tear in recent years, winning four straight state championships. The Spartans won three in a row in Class 7A from 2017-19 and won 6A last year after there was no 2020 championship.
The Mountain Brook boys won three straight state titles from 2015-17 and are looking for their first one since.
Mountain Brook coach Susan Farlow likes where each of the teams is at heading into the final tournament of the campaign.
“Hopefully this year we’ll be able to compete well at state and give ourselves a really good chance at winning. It’s a good team with lots of leadership and they bond really well,” Farlow said.
The girls team lost a few strong contributors from last year’s group, but remains strong. Pippa Roy leads the way for the Spartans on the girls side from the No. 1 singles slot. Roy has excelled this spring and was named the Alabama Tennis Association’s Female Junior Player of the Year recently.
“She’s very competitive and doesn’t really get nervous. She doesn’t beat herself very often,” Farlow said.
Both teams finished the season undefeated in regular season match play and rolled to wins at the section tournament last week in Pell City.
In the girls meet, Mountain Brook swept the top spots in all six singles brackets and all three doubles brackets. The Mountain Brook boys won all the singles and doubles brackets with the exception of No. 1 singles.
When Mountain Brook was in the state’s largest classification, the Spartans would have to compete regularly against the likes of Vestavia Hills, Spain Park and Hoover. Now, much of the competition is from strong private schools like St. Paul’s and UMS-Wright.
But the approach at state remains the same.
“We’re the strongest public school and we’re deep, so that’s where we capture some points. It’s all about how you compete and win the early rounds and get through,” Farlow said.
Roy, Lillian Still, Annie Lacey, Mary Neal Polk, Mae Mae Lacey and Ann Royal Goodson will be competing for the Mountain Brook girls in singles, with doubles pairs of Roy and Annie Lacey, Ann Coleman and Mae Mae Lacey, and Still and Polk.
Connor Jenkins, Luke Schwefler, Thomas Austin, Logan Woodall, Max Gayden and Trey Stiles will compete for the boys in singles, with the pairs of Jenkins and Woodall, Schwefler and Gayden, and Austin and George Dumas playing in the doubles competitions.
