Christ Church Boys Tennis still one of the best
By Neill Kirkpatrick
Special to the HSSR
Greenville – Some may have expected a drop off for the states premier boys tennis program in 2025 , but the Christ Church Boys and new coach Reverend Wallace Adams-Riley showed that the more things change the more they stay the same as they made it to the AAA upper state championship match in their first year in the new classification.
When asked what challenges the first-year coach faced he told the HSSR, “the biggest challenge was the rain.”
“I had such ready, steady support from our Athletic Director, Molly Miller, and her Athletic Department team; from Jimmy Burford, my predecessor as coach; from my assistant coach, Rae Sobocinski, who is an experienced tennis coach and player (and the coach of our girls’ varsity tennis); and from the parents of our players, that I’m happy to say things went quite smoothly,” said coach.
Coach continued, “Our boys played hard all season, right on up through our match against Clinton in the Upper State Championship game. We had several additions to the varsity team giving us 17 players throughout the season.
The teams three captains were seniors Tucker Hendrix, Carson Bowers, and Hutch Lyman. They brought leadership and commitment to the team and they helped show the younger players on the team, the culture of Christ Church boys tennis.
Bowers and Lyman were returning top seven players from 2024. This season Bowers played at number two seed while Lyman was the most improved player this year, playing at various times the number five singles and the number two doubles with Bowers.
Hendrix returned to the court after a years absence and played at the number three seed. He will head to Clemson next season to play football as a preferred walk on.
Krish Patel was a returning seeded player from 2024 and was slotted at the number four seed for the Cav’s this season.
Joining Hendrix as newcomers to this years team was the Cav’s top seeded player in Judd Windham. The sophomore also started at forward on the Cav’s boys soccer team that also made the upper state finals.
Paul Fraunberger and Omar Rida moved up from the JV team. Fraunberger played at the number five singles while Rida played at number seven.
Ellis Trail and Powers McKissick will be back next season. They provided depth this past but will be looking to nab one of the seeds on next year’s team.
“The one thing I have loved is the team’s spirit. There’s an enthusiasm that is contagious and I have appreciated their commitment, all of which has continued to develop over the course of the season. One particularly encouraging aspect of the team’s culture is the way they have welcomed in and encouraged the younger players,” said coach. “We had 17 players with us through the season, with another couple of players coming up from our JV team to join us for practices, so I am excited about the future of our team. Next year we aim to make it to the State Championship.”
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