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Elkin took over first place in the Mountain Valley Athletic Conference and held that lead with a 9-0 victory over Ashe County on Tuesday.

“It is always good experience playing better teams, and although Elkin easily defeated us, I thought our players played well against a very good team,” said head coach Larry Dix.

Returning state champion Tyler Macy defeated Ashe top seed Sam Bowers in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0. Ryan Schell and David Bullins beat Lucas Zeller and Een Shepherd by identical 6-0, 6-0 scores.

Ashe put up a strong fight in the fourth seeded match where Jacob O’Neal took the first set 6-4, but lost the next two against Ashton Gant.

Both the fifth and sixth seeded matches went Elkin’s way with 6-0, 6-0 scores. Chad Vestal beat Travis Stanley and Jacob Lyon was the winner over Andrew Shepherd.

The Elks took care of business in all three of the doubles matches. Macy and Schell were 8-0 winners over Bowers and Zeller, Bullins and Vestal beat E. Shepherd and O’Neal by an 8-0 score and Lyon and McCulloch were 8-1 winners against Stanley and Jake Harrington.

The Huskies took the court on Thursday at North Wilkes and bounced back for a 9-0 sweep of the Vikings.

“I am pleased with how our team played. This was a great opportunity to work on certain shots and ground strokes, and provided good momentum toward upcoming conference play,” said Coach Dix.

North Wilkes had to forfeit two matches because the team only had five players.

Ashe players easily handled their opponents except for top seed Bowers who struggled a bit in the second set, but held on for a 6-1, 7-5 victory.

“Bowers struggled with consistency in the second set and was down 5-2, but he never gave up and came back to win the set 7-5,” said Coach Dix. “This was another great example of the ‘never give up’ attitude that I try to instill in our players on and off the court.”

Ashe improved its record to 7-7 overall and 6-7 in league action.

The team has two regular season matches remaining and both are scheduled to be played this week. Ashe will host Oak Hill Academy on Tuesday in a non-conference match before wrapping up conference play on Wednesday at home against Alleghany.