By Bret Strelow
Salisbury Post
Joe Goodman arrived at Salisbury in time to act as a teammate to his older brother Daniel, who was voted the CCC’s top tennis player as a senior.
Goodman, now a senior himself, has earned a title that didn’t even exist three years ago.
Goodman collected a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Lexington’s Justin Miller in the singles final of the CCC tournament Wednesday.
The event, which serves as a regional qualifier, first featured a champion-crowning format last season. Daniel Goodman reached the state semifinals in 2005 but, through no fault of his own, never won a conference tournament.
“I guess I accomplished something he never did,” Joe Goodman said with a laugh. “Other than that, hands down, I think he was the better player. It’s not easy saying that being the younger brother.”
Goodman was one of three Salisbury players to qualify for the upcoming regional.
The pairing of Austin Flynn-Steven Page fell 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) to Ledford’s Landon Rogers-Scott Buchanan in the doubles final, and the Hornets’ other tandem came up one win short of a regional berth. Lewis Young, who filled in for Carl Ritchie, and Tyler Heilig lost 8-5 in the consolation final against Lexington’s Grayson Bates-Charles Chisholm. Central Davidson’s Elliott Smith beat Benton Whitaker, Salisbury’s other singles participant, in the consolation semifinals.
Goodman, who had a first-round bye, improved to 16-2 by going 3-0 in the tournament.
He won 8-2 against West Davidson’s Zach Boggs on Tuesday and prevailed 6-0, 7-5 against Lexington’s Charlie Jordan in a semifinal match Wednesday.
Jordan is the No. 2 player on the team that claimed the conference championship. Miller is the Yellow Jackets’ top seed.
“Joe played maybe the most consistent and overall highest quality of tennis over a period of matches that I’ve probably seen him play,” Salisbury coach Chris Myers said. “He really put it all together, especially today playing against Lexington’s No. 1 and 2.”
Goodman, who reached the semifinals of last year’s tournament, said he reduced the pace of his first serves in an attempt to perform with more consistency. Playing a match before facing Miller also helped.
Goodman lost the first set and won a third-set tiebreaker in both regular-season meetings with Miller.
“I was already warmed up and had already played a match, so I just got right into it,” Goodman said. “I didn’t get down like I used to ó it usually takes me a few games to warm up. Getting that head start and getting on top early really helped.”
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NOTE: Full results are in Scoreboard.
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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com.