Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Bearcats swept Cairo 5-0 in their region matchup. The win over the Syrupmakers was Bainbridge’s final regular-season game against region opponents, and they ended the region schedule without dropping a single match.

“It’s always a good thing,” said Bearcats’ Head Coach Xavier Bell about beating a Cairo team. “It was a quick, easy sweep.” 

The perfect day came down to a 10-point tiebreaker from senior Thomas Shockley. The No. 2 singles player got to the sudden death decider after a back-and-forth match. Bell was at the court Coaching Shockley through it.

“Through the tiebreaker, it was just ‘Stay tough,’” Bell said about the advice he gave Shockley. “You miss a point, you’ve got to stay mentally tough through all of it. You can’t let that one point shift everything… I knew he’d be fine.”

Shockley went on to win and secure the sweep over the Syrupmakers. The Bearcats swept every team in Region 1-4A this season, beating all other region opponents 5-0. 

Up next for Bainbridge is a match against Valdosta High School on Thursday, Mar. 21. Bell said he scheduled the 7-A foe as a test to see where the team is at going into the end of the season.

“We’ve got them at the end of the schedule for a reason,” Bell said. “It’s a great time to see where we are and be able to judge that we’re at ‘this’ point going into the postseason… I really just want to see us be confident. We can lose 0-5, and I’m good. If I see confidence on the court from all of them, I’ll feel great about the postseason.”

Results

No 1. Singles: Cullen Glover, W, 6-0 6-0

No 2. Singles: Thomas Shockley, W, 6-0 3-6 1-0

No 3. Singles: Pate Beckham, W, 6-2 6-1

No 1. Doubles: Tucker Surratt & Mitchell Carter, W, 6-3 6-1

No 2. Doubles: Gamble Tabb & Evan Brock, W, 6-2 6-0