Aynor girls tennis team to host Lower State finals following win via forfeit

The Aynor girls tennis team is finding that it feels pretty good sitting on top.

After sweeping perennial Region VIII-AA power Waccamaw in a pair of matches during the regular season, the Blue Jackets have won their first two playoff matches to advance to the Lower State championship.

And, by way of sweeping the Warriors, Aynor will host Bishop England in the Lower State finals at 4 p.m. Monday.

“That’s excellent. That hasn’t been done before to my knowledge,” Blue Jackets coach Marcella Toth said of her team hosting the Lower State title match. “Any time that we’ve gone to Lower State we’ve had to go to Waccamaw. After the first round we’ve had to travel in the past. So for it to be home for last couple matches has been great.”

Aynor defeated Barnwell in the first round Thursday and advanced to the Lower State finals when Academic Magnet forfeited a match that was scheduled for Friday.

It all started with a breakthrough season against Waccamaw. The Warriors had knocked the Blue Jackets out of the playoffs in four of the past five seasons after winning the region. In 2010, Waccamaw beat Aynor in the Lower State finals.

The difference this year?

“I don’t know that there’s any difference,” said Toth, the team’s coach since 2008. “We just have some depth and the girls have worked hard and I’m very proud of them. Since I’ve been here we haven’t ever beat Waccamaw. It’s been very close and we went to a lot of tiebreakers.”

Next up for the Blue Jackets is Bishop England, the four-time defending state champion.

“We’re just going to practice as much as we can between now and then,” Toth said. “Hopefully the rain will hold out and we can get out there and have a really good match.”

Being at home in such a big match can’t hurt.

“It’s definitely helped us having home advantage every time we’ve won,” Toth said. “That’s been very positive.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Aynor girls tennis team to host Lower State finals following win via forfeit."