Boys tennis cuts it close: Lecanto nips Citrus 4-3

James Blevins
Correspondent

DAVE SIGLER/Chronicle

Lecanto High School tennis team’s No. 1 singles player Rishi Gurnani faced Citrus High School’s top-seed Kyle Everett on Tuesday at Lecanto High School. Lecanto beat Citrus 4-3.

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DAVE SIGLER/Chronicle

Citrus High School’s Kyle Everett faced a tough competitor Tuesday in Lecanto High School’s Rishi Gurnani. Everett dropped the the match in straight sets during the cross-county rivalry.

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LECANTO — The Hurricanes and Panthers boys tennis teams fought for an edge in several tightly contested matchups that lasted longer than three hours Tuesday.

A couple of boys found themselves in tiebreaker scenarios, but Lecanto came out on top with the narrow 4-3 team victory.

“Very close,” Lecanto head coach Jack Hall said. “I was fortunate that it came down the way it (did). (It) could have gone either way. Always good to win a county match. It’s good for the guys (and) good for the county when it comes this close.”

In the No. 1-seeded matchup, Lecanto’s Rishi Gurnani defeated Citrus’ Kyle Everett in two straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

The No. 2 match went much the same with Lecanto’s Zach Alford overtaking Citrus’ Guy Harris 6-2, 6-2.

Lecanto’s No. 3 seed Sam Alford swept Citrus’ Grey Pospeiech 6-0, 6-0.

Citrus saw its first singles victory with No. 5 Michael Hetland beating Dale Eastmond 6-4, 6-1. Following them, Citrus’ Tyler McIntosh won the No. 4-seed match against Lecanto’s Lloyd Justo 6-1, (2-6), 7-6 with a tiebreaker finale.

Citrus’ No. 1 doubles team (Everett/Pospeiech) defeated Lecanto (Gurnani/Z.Alford) 6-2, (1-6), 6-2; tying the team competition 3-3.

That left the whole meet at the feet of the last double’s match.

Lecanto’s No. 2 doubles (S.Alford/Justo) claimed the first long set against Citrus’ (Harris/McIntosh) after a tiebreaker; 7-6.

The duo then finished off the match 6-2 in the final set, winning the match and meet for the Panthers.