The Harlan County High School tennis teams picked up where they left off last season with an impressive start to the 2022 season by sweeping Middlesboro on Monday at Middlesboro and splitting with Barbourville on Tuesday.
Harlan County downed Middlesboro 8-1 in boys action and 7-2 in the girls match.
“First match of the season and our squads are bringing home a hard fought win against Middlesboro. I’m impressed with what I saw tonight,” Bailey said. “I told our players we need to go out and play the way that we practice and we will bring home some wins. I’m proud of our squads for the effort they brought against Middlesboro.”
The HCHS boys fell 6-3 in the home opener Tuesday against Barbourville, but the HCHS girls won 6-3.
“I am very proud of our effort we came with in our opening matches of the season. We have worked a lot in the offseason. Playing on the road in our first regular season match and then coming straight to our home courts to play in back to back matches could be exhausting, but we have worked in the offseason and our kids were ready for the challenge,” Bailey said. “Some of our kids have never played and had some nerves they had to get rid of at the start to get into the groove. It was good to see some of our newer players in the program get some wins and needed experience. We have some simple mistakes that we have to fix but we have a long season to go. I’m proud of both of our teams with back-to-back matches bringing wins home.”
HCHS returns to action Thursday at South Laurel.
Match results for Monday and Tuesday include:

HCHS boys defeat Middlesboro 8-1

Calan Neely (HC) defeated D. Slaven (M) 8-1

Braden Engle (HC) was defeated by C. Atkins (M) 1-8

Sawyer Cornett (HC) defeated S. Sin (M) 8-3

Steven Fee (HC) defeated T. Brooks (M) 8-4

Chandler Smith (HC) defeated T. Fannon (M) 8-0

Elijah Moore (HC) won by default

Cornett/Smith (HC) defeated Slaven/Atkins (M) 8-1

Neely/Moore (HC) defeated Sin/Brooks (M) 6-3

Trey Ball/Joshua Stewart (HC) defeated Fann/Evans (M) 6-2

HCHS girls defeat Middlesboro 7-2

Lindsay Hall (HC) defeated C. Burchett(M) 8-5

Abigail Gaw (HC) defeated C. Spade (M) 8-4

Amber Lewis (HC) defeated S. Farmer (M) 8-4

Laura Ball (HC) defeated D. Johnson (M) 9-7

Kalista Dunn (HC) defeated M. Green (M) 6-2

Amelia Colinger (HC) was defeated by H. Goins (M) 1-8

Hall/Gaw (HC) defeated Burchett/Spade (M) 8-3

Lewis/Ball (HC) defeated Farmer/Johnson (M) 2-1

Dunn/Kaitlyn Daniels (HC) were defeated by Green/Goins (M) 3-6

HCHS boys lose to Barbourville 6-3

Calan Neely (HC) was defeated by M. Smith (B) 2-8

Steven Fee (HC) was defeated by S. Smith (B) 2-8

Sawyer Cornett (HC) was defeated by J. Gambrel (B) 4-8

Chandler Smith (HC) defeated N. Popejoy (B) 8-2

Elijah Moore (HC) defeated Jake Mayne (B) 9-7

Joshua Stewart (HC) was defeated by Dalton Alsip (B) 9-8 (7-4)

Fee/Neely (HC) were defeated by Smith/Smith (B) 1-8

Smith/Cornett (HC) defeated Gambrel/Popejoy (B) 8-2

Moore/Joshua Stewart (HC) were defeated by Mayne/Alsip 3-8

HCHS girls defeat Barbourville 6-3

Lindsay Hall (HC) was defeated by S. Smith (B) 4-8

Abigail Gaw (HC) defeated R. Corey (B) 8-3

Amber Lewis (HC) defeated A. Valentine (B) 8-5

Laura Ball (HC) defeated M. Bingham (B) 8-0

Kalista Dunn (HC) defeated E. Bingham (B) 8-2

Kaitlyn Daniels (HC) was defeated by L. Partin (B) 6-8

Hall/Gaw (HC) was defeated by Smith/Corey (B) 8-9 (4-10)

Lewis/Ball (HC) defeated Valentine/Partin (B) 8-1

Dunn/Daniels (HC) defeated Bingham/Bingham (B) 3-6