Lady ’Canes pull out slim win against county rival Panthers with a final score of 4-3

Justin Plante
Correspondent

INVERNESS — In regards to in-county rivalries, a sense of mutual respect always seems to be shared among participants. Such is the case for the Lecanto and Citrus girls tennis teams, who found themselves locked in a highly competitive match Tuesday night at Citrus High School.

“We knew it would be tough going in,” Citrus coach Scott Waters said. “Lecanto’s doing very well this year, and I told the girls that this would be a tough match, and the scores definitely prove that.”

Citrus pulled out a close 4-3 victory over the Lady Panthers, behind big wins from the Lady ’Canes’ No. 2 doubles, and

No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 singles.

The night started off with the doubles matches, pitting Citrus’ top pair, Sarah Labrador and Lena Martone, against Lecanto’s Madison and Amber Gamble. After dropping the first set 4-6, the Gamble sisters battled back to take the match, winning the next two sets 6-4 and 6-3.

Lecanto’s other doubles pair didn’t fare quite as well, as Citrus’ No. 2 pairing of Melanie Dodd and Jaclyn Ear took a hard-fought 7-5 first set, before cruising to a 6-1 second against Lecanto’s Adrienne Burnett and Chynna Liu.

In singles action, Citrus’ No. 1 Sarah Labrador handed Lecanto’s Simi Shah a tough loss, taking both sets 6-2.

Melanie Dodd added another win for the ’Canes, defeating Amber Gamble 6-4 and 6-4.

Lecanto’s No. 3 and No. 4 singles brought home victories, as Madison Gamble and Chynna Liu beat out Citrus’ Jaclyn Ear and Lena Martone, respectively. Madison took her match 7-5 and 6-4, while Liu won 6-3 and 6-4.

Rounding out singles results, Citrus’ No. 5 Taylor Jordan defeated Lecanto’s Palak Gasai 6-3 and 6-2 to give Citrus its fourth win of the night.

“I told the girls this would be tough,” Waters said. “We figured it would be 4-3 at the end, and we were hoping it would be 4-3 leaning our way. We are pleasantly surprised. The girls had a good night.”