Lafayette tennis falls in state championship to Stone County

Published 5:47 pm Friday, April 26, 2019

A tremendous year is no more.

Making it all the way back to the state championship after winning it all last year, the Lafayette Commodores lost on Friday to Stone County 6-1 in the 6A state championship match.

“All the matches were fairly close,” said head coach Debbie Swindoll. “We had a shot at more points, but they’ve been here ten years in a row and playing six seniors. I’ve got to put it in perspective.”

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Facing a stone county team that played six seniors, the Commodores were only able to muster up one victory. Ally Bowen beat her Stone County counterpart 6-0, 6-0 in the girls singles.

Stone County had lost nine years in a row in the state championship to Oxford before losing to Lafayette last season. Now they’ve finally won it.

Despite the sad ending, it was a great year for Lafayette. Going 12-7, they played, and were competitive against, a handful of teams from 6A on the year. Nearly all the players competing Friday in Jackson will be back next year.

“We had an awesome season. I played the toughest schedule we’ve played in my history with the school,” Swindoll said. “We far exceeded, probably, my expectations based on who was coming back. It’s disappointing, but we had an awesome season.