NICHOLASVILLE  — For the first time in more than two years, Boyle County girls tennis hasn’t lost a region match.

That changed Monday night.

Danville toppled Boyle County 4-1 as a team at Top Seed Tennis in Nicholasville, improving to 8-2 on the season.

“Tao (Costello) has done an excellent job of making their program one of the best in the region. Any time you can beat Boyle, it’s a great win,” Danville head coach Ryan Adams said. “Knowing the success they’ve had in the past few years, I’m so proud of my girls. Just competitive match after competitive match. It came right down to tiebreaks in a lot of the matches. I’m just super proud of the way we went out and fought, and that’s kind of what we’ve done all year. We’ve figured out ways to win and I couldn’t be happier for my girls tonight.”

It’s the first region loss for Boyle girls as a team since March 2016, a span of 45 matches.

“We had some close matches today but Danville has a really good team,” Boyle head coach Tao Costello said. “I knew they were going to be good, I was hoping that we could get them. We’ve had a good streak going, I’m super proud of the girls.”

Two of the five girls matches went to tiebreakers, with the No. 1 singles match going to a super tiebreaker: Boyle’s Mia Kendrick defeated Danville’s Elizabeth Joiner 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 10-7. With the win, Kendrick remains undefeated in region play in her senior season.

“We’re playing really well,” Costello said. “There’s no clear-cut favorite this year, there’s probably six girls in singles that could win it and 10 different teams in doubles. That makes it a lot of fun, there’s going to be a lot on the line. We’re really proud of Mia, she’s undefeated in the region so she’ll get the No. 1 seed. It’ll be interesting to see how the other girls line up. EJ will be right in there with them, I’d like to see that match in the finals. That was a really good match. Mia has won three super tiebreakers this year. It’s close but she’s been hanging on, we’re proud of her.”

Kendrick and Joiner could see each other in region, which is in two weeks.

“Mia is a tremendous player,” Adams said. “I was happy when Elizabeth got the first set, but I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy match. She continued to play, Mia really turned it on. See them go down to a 10-point tiebreak, that’s what you want to see out of your best players. I’d love to see Elizabeth get another chance, it’d be fun for our town for it to come down to those two in region.”

On the boys side, Boyle County’s Luke Duncan beat Saif Siddiqui (6-2, 6-0) in the No. 1 singles match. Boyle duo Sam Clark and Jackson Mesplay won 6-0, 6-3 against Danville’s Tyler McGirr and Eli Gooch in the No. 1 doubles match.

“Luke has been playing real good this season, super proud of him. He’s got the third seed and hopefully we’ll get a good draw, but we’ll see what happens there. Doubles, we’ll get a seed there, Jackson and Sam are both seniors and they’re playing really well going into the region tournament. I’m happy with how our season is going.”

Boyle County, Danville and Centre College will host region again this season, which will be a boost for the entire area.

“I think it’s great for the city of Danville and Boyle County that we get the teams to visit us, obviously we feel comfortable playing there,” Adams said. “I’m so, so proud of our district, that they’ve put the money in the program, our courts and our facility so we can host the region. I’m excited to have the teams come in and I’m looking forward to a really competitive region. There’s a lot of parity in the region this year, it should be a great regional tournament.”

 

Girls results

Mia Kendrick (Boyle) def. Elizabeth Joiner 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 10-7 super tiebreak

Annabelle Graves (Danville) def. Hannah Jusufovic 6-0, 6-2

Eleanor Grubbs/Grace Crawford  (Danville) def. Whitney Bean/Maggie Cerqueira 6-3, 6-3

Lara Akers/Jenna Akers (Danville) def. Lainey Robbins/Edie Clark 6-0, 6-0

Keeley McKnight/Ella McKinney (Danville) def. Grace McDaniel/McKayla Baker 9-8 (7-5)

 

Boys results

Luke Duncan (Boyle) def. Saif Siddiqui 6-2, 6-0

Sam Clark/Jackson Mesplay def. Tyler McGirr/Eli Gooch, 6-0, 6-3