By Thomas Sellers Jr.
MURFREESBORO – An unlikely duo to reach the TSSAA Class 3A State Boys’ Doubles Tennis Tournament was Brighton’s Blake Armour and Nathan Yoder. It wasn’t because of their athletic ability with both Cardinals playing other sports like basketball and football for the school. There record coming into Thursday’s Quarterfinals match against the Siegel duo of Michael Jacobs and Chadwick Daugherty was 14-5. And Armour and Yoder under the guidance of Brighton Tennis Coach Kim Greer had a championship pedigree winning the District 13-3A and Region 7-3A titles. What made them an unlikely duo to reach State was time. When the season began, Yoder was playing doubles with another partner. “We were playing a match in Ripley and my doubles partner was gone,” Yoder recalled. “ He was like, ‘We’re going to let you and Nathan play.’ We played and everything started clicking. I was like I think I found me a new partner. We matched pretty well.” Since joining forces in April, Yoder and Armour have won 14 matches including five in a row to reach State. But the pair of Jacobs and Chadwick proved to be too tough Thursday morning winning 6-2, 6-1 on the Old Fort Park court. Greer said the 2014 was a success for his junior Yoder and freshman Armour. The duo won the District 13-3A title earlier this month defeating Hardin County and then outlasting teammates Jamie Kaesberg and Brad Beirdz. Then it was on to the Regionals to take on Bolton and Bartlett. Yoder and Armour depended on the developing chemistry and same mentality to beat those pairs. “We both wanted to win,” Armour said. “We’re always helping each other out and encouraging each other. We’re never putting each other down. We’ll be down love-40. He’ll be like, ‘Come on Blake. We can beat them.’ Next thing you know we’ve beat them 45-40.” In both the Bolton and Bartlett games the Brighton duo dropped the first set before prevailing. With about 7 weeks of play under their belts, Yoder said the duo can perform even better in 2015.
“I want to come here again and at least get past the semifinals,” he concluded. “This year we got a good look at everything.”
