Paula Richardson, Ethan Richardson, Jabin Talley and Greg Talley.

CHRISTIANSBURG – Carroll County Boys Tennis teams Jabin Talley and Ethan Richardson fell behind early in the first set of their doubles match with #2 seeded Abingdon, eventually falling 6-3, 6-3 Wednesday afternoon.

The middle of the match was very shot for shot after the Falcons raced out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set. The Cavs duo proceeded to capture six of the next nine games, doing so with a combination of strong serves and aggressive net play.

Carroll County led the second set 3-2 before AHS closed out the match by winning four consecutive games to seal the semi-final Victory.

Talley has now played his final match as a Cavalier and the Senior wraps up his four year career with a school record of 74 victories in between Singles and Doubles.

The end of the season with the duo also signifies the passing of the proverbial baton from Talley to Richardson. Next spring Talley will be playing tennis 🎾 for Southwest Virginia Community College (Flying Eagles) while Richardson will slide into the #1 seed and be in search of a new doubles partner.

Richardson could very well end up in the number two spot on the All-Time wins list when he leaves The Hill after next season.

Christiansburg High School 🏫 did a nice job hosting the event after a last minutei change of venue from Blacksburg High.

For the second day in a row CCHS played in front of a supportive group of fans that made the trek up I-81.

We need to day Thank You to Coach Talley for the past two seasons of leading the team. It is assumed that Greg will spend next Spring season following his Son’s college career.

For more information on the match details and game by game numbers, please check out the Carroll County Sports Report.

Girls Head Coach Martin McKenzie leaning in to share a thought with Boys 👦 Coach Greg Talley.

Luke vs Nic, the names that their supporters are offering for encouragement, as the top two seeds battle it out for the Region Championship.

Luke captured the opening set by a score of 6-2 and currently leads 3-0 in the second set. Once this match is over there will be a short break and then Jabin Talley and Ethan Richardson will begin their Semi-final match versus Abingdon.

We will be here throughout…

12:11 – match over, 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles to start shortly !

12:35 – estimated start time…. ???

1:00 – Start time for warm-ups

Our Tennis 🎾 👩👪

Our cheering 👏 section!

All four players are now warming up.

McReynolds and Gibson for Abingdon versus our Talley & Richardson.

1:12 – Play Ball !

Game #1 -Gibson serves, AHS holds serve 6 points to 4.

Game #2 – Richardson serves – AHS 4-2.

Game #3 – McReynolds serves, 4-0

Game #4 – Talley serves, AHS 4-1

Game #5 – Gibson serves, 4-2

Game #6 – Richardson serves, Cavs 4-1!

Game #7 – McReynolds serves, Cavs 4-2 ! Still in it…

Game #8 – Talley serves, 4-2 Cavs!

Game #9 – Gibson serves, AHS 4-2. Cavs fought off two set points before falling.

Set 1 goes to AHS 6-3 (1:40 pm)

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Game #1 – Richardson serves, AHS 5-3

Game #2 – Gibson serves, Cavs break 4-2

Game #3 – Talley serves, wind is a howling, Cavs sweep 4-0 and lead 2-1!

Game #4 – McReynolds serves, AHS 4-2.

Game #5 – Richardson serves, Cavs 4-2, lead set #2, 3-2 (1:58)

Game #6 – Gibson serves, AHS 4-0.

Game #7 – Talley serves, AHS 4-2

Game #8 – McReynolds serves, AHS 4-1.

Game #9 – Richardson serves, fought off match point once, now tied, Jabin with a slam that bounced over the fence 5-5, down 5-6 now and 5-7.

Match ends at 2:10 pm…

6-3, 6-3 is your final score..

Jabin Talley gave us four great years!

Actual recap to follow…

Shortly after the conclusion of the Boys 👦 Championship match concludes the format will switch over to the Doubles Semi-finals. Both of the singles players also lead their doubles teams so the break might be a few minutes longer than normal but the next match will include our Jabin Talley and Ethan Richardson.

The duo would need to win twice today to advance to the State Tournament next week at Liberty University. The two W’s would also give the pair the Regional Championship !

Best guess is that their match will begin shortly after Noon at Christiansburg High School 🏫 and admission is free of charge.

Christiansburg – #3 seeded Jabin Talley and Ethan Richardson dropped the first set of the quarterfinal match 6-2 to their opponents from Cave Spring and it appeared that the fans from Carroll County were about to witness the end of a four year run that has put Talley into the CCHS record books 📚.

Then in a blink of an eye the Dynamic Duo flipped a switch, storming back to winning the second set 6-1 to force a tiebreaker. The winner 🏆 would be the first team to score ten points and to do so with a lead of a minimum of two points.

These same four players needed a tie breaker in their team Regional tournament earlier at Cave Spring. That day the Cavaliers fell just short but they made sure that recent history would not repeat itself.

Playing in a free swinging manner, CCHS closed out the tiebreaker by a 10-4 margin. The victory was #74 for Talley over his four years. This victory came with the added significance of extending the season and career one more day !

Talley and Richardson will return to the courts at Christiansburg High School Wednesday at 11:00 am for the Doubles semi-finals. The match will begin shortly after the Singles Championship matches have concluded.

Talley earned victory #73 earlier in the morning in the Singles Quarterfinals. Playing as the #3 seed in that draw as well, Talley advanced with a convincing 6-2, 6-0 victory over his counterpart from William Byrd.

#2 seed Nick McReynolds (Abingdon) used his relentless left handed ground strokes to keep Talley at bay in the more competitive than the score indicates, 6-2, 6-2.

The Singles event stayed true to the seeding, leaving a classic Finals match between the Top Two Seeds tomorrow morning. Shortly after that showdown concludes our duo will go in search of victory #75 for Talley.