High school roundup: St. James tennis getting boost from abroad

St. James girls tennis coach Lee Cannon doesn’t know who to thank.

He just feels like he should be thanking somebody.

After all, Cannon’s top three players are foreign exchange students – who all joined the team shortly before the season began – and the Sharks have already topped their win total from last season heading into Region VII-AAA play on Tuesday.

St. James’ No. 1 player Christina Rivera is from Spain, their No. 2 Maaike Van Oers is from the Netherlands and No. 3 Amelie Brichzin is from Germany.

“I’m in kind of a special position because I inherited three foreign exchange students. That normally doesn’t happen.” Cannon said after a 5-1 win over Carolina Forest on Wednesday. “Our top two [players] haven’t really been successful so far, but why I’m mentioning that is because it’s a positive for the kids that are from the area. My No. 1 player [last year] is now my No. 4 player and we’ve gotten a lot deeper because we picked up these three.”

After the win over the Panthers on Wednesday, the Sharks are 3-2 after a dismal 2-16 finish to last season.

St. James hosts Socastee on Thursday at 5 p.m. in their non-region finale. Cannon said his team has learned a lot since the start of the year.

“Six matches before region play and I feel like we’re prepared,” he said. “We’ve played some excellent teams along the way. We battled with Conway, Green Sea Floyds and a team that gave us a whooping was Christian Academy [of Myrtle Beach]. They beat us straight down the lineup; they’re good. So we’ve been fortunate enough to play some good teams heading into the region and I think we’ve done well.”

And Cannon wants to keep rolling.

“We’re looking forward to a much better result in region play this year,” Cannon said. “Somebody sent us some help and we’re going to use it”

High school volleyball

Heading into the thick of Region VIII-AA play, Aynor volleyball coach Michelle Altman feels the non-region schedule has helped prepare her squad.

The Blue Jackets picked up a few wins over smaller schools but have fell to Class AAAA foes Carolina Forest and Conway twice and Altman said it was great practice.

“We’ve played a pretty tough non-region schedule. It’s prepared us for a tough region,” said Altman after her team beat Andrews 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-14) on Wednesday. “We did good against smaller schools but kind of struggled with the Class AAAA teams; I think it’s only made us stronger.”

Kayla Gerald had eight kills and Berkley Causey had 10 assists and seven aces to lead Aynor (3-5) over the Yellow Jackets on Wednesday. Bell McKenzie had four kills and five blocks and Kacie Squires had two aces, eight digs and three assists to help the Blue Jackets.

“We’re young,” Altman said. “But they seem to be quick learners. They’re always striving to do better every game and they won’t give up.”

Aynor opens up Region VIII-AA play on Thursday as it hosts Dillon at 6:30 p.m.

“Hopefully we start off the region right,” Altman said.

High school swimming

The Carolina Forest girls swimming team picked up a win Wednesday in a nine-team meet, while the Panthers boys swimming team came in second as West Florence was victorious in an eight-team meet.

Ashley Woodall and Taylor Steele led the Carolina Forest girls with first place finishes in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke, respectively. The Panthers’ 200 medley relay team (Elizabeth Gatley, Taylor Steele, Ashley Woodall and Alexis Porfilio) also finished first.

Liam Zevgolis led the Carolina Forest boys with a win in the 500 yard freestyle. Connor Steele, Jack Vaught, Grice Fortenberry and Zevgolis also dominated the 200 freestyle relay.

This story was originally published September 9, 2015 at 11:12 PM with the headline "High school roundup: St. James tennis getting boost from abroad."