The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE clash of the titans for the gold, silver and bronze medals in tennis at the sixth Bahamas Games will not include the New Providence Buccaneers.

Surprisingly, after four days of intense competition at the National Tennis Center, the Buccaneers failed to crack the top four in the team standings and will have to play Abaco for the fifth or sixth place.

While it was anticipated that the Grand Bahamian Lucayans would have earned their berth, what wasn’t expected was that their opponents would come from the Andros Chickcharnies, while the Eleuthera Adventurers would take on the Long Island Sheep Runners for the bronze.

New Providence actually finished third in their group, which knocked them out of contention for one of the top four spots. In their absence, many are still looking forward to some fireworks from the Grand Bahama-Andros and the Eleuthera-Long Island match-ups.

Lucayans’ coach Danny Rigby said his team from Grand Bahama has played very well so far in the games and he expects that they will carry that momentum over to the final.

“We know that every one of them takes the game seriously,” Rigby said. “So right now, we’re doing okay. We have a rough battle with Andros on Tuesday, but I think we will be right there. We have a well-balanced team, so is Andros, so it’s going to be a real fight out there.”

The Lucayans’ team include players such as Denali Nottage, Rodney Carey Jr, Larikah Russell and Jalisa Clarke.

Bradley Bain, one of the coaches for Andros, said the Chickcharnies did what they had to do and that was to get into the final.

“I don’t anticipate going into events where we don’t have a chance to win,” Bain said. “We have a very strong team from Andros with MJ (Michael Major Jr) and PJ (Philip Major Jr) and Jacobi Bain on the men’s side and Sydney Clarke and her little sister Sarai on the junior girls’ side and Savano Hanna on the junior boys’ side, I think it’s a great combination.”

Bain said if it’s one thing he’s confident in, it’s the fact that “our players know what to do to keep the ball in play. They will come to play,” he insisted.

“They (Grand Bahama) have to beat us on the court. They look good on paper, but they have to play the game.”

In group A, Grand Bahama finished with a 2-1 win-loss record, while Long Island was 1-2 and Abaco was 0-3.

In pool B, Andros topped the field at 3-1, Eleuthera was 2-2, New Providence was 1-3 and MICAL was 0-4.

In explaining the format for tennis, referee Mickey Williams noted that each tie between two islands feature six matches, which include the junior boys’ and girls’ singles, senior boys’ and girls’ singles, girls’ and boys’ doubles and the mixed doubles to ten points, if necessary wherever there is a tie.

To complete the round robin play on Sunday, Grand Bahama knocked off Long Island 5-1 and Eleuthera matched the same results against MICAL.

The surprise came in the other match where Andros whitewashed New Providence 6-0.

•Here’s a look at the results of those matches played:

Grand Bahama def. Long Island 5-1

Men’s Singles - Denali Nottage (Grand Bahama) def Anthony Burrows Jr (Long Island) 6-3, 6-2.

Boys Singles - Synaj Watkins (Long Island) def. Aiden Ritchie (Grand Bahama) 7-6(5), 5-7, 10-7.

Women’s Singles - Larikah Russell (Grand Bahama) def Genesis MISSICK (Long Island) 6-0, 6-0.

Girls Singles Jalisa Clarke (Grand Bahama) def. Saphire Ferguson (Long Island) 6-4, 6-3.

Men’s Doubles - Rodney Carey Jr and Denali Nottage (Grand Bahama)def Abishai Adderley and Anthony Burrows Jr (Long Island) 6-1, 6-1

Women’s Doubles - Jalisa Clarke and Larikah Russell (Grand Bahama def BreAnn Ferguson and Genesis Missick (Long Island) 6-1, 6-2.

Eleuthera def. MICAL 5-1

Men’s Singles - Kevin Major Jr (Eleuthera) def Dentry Mortimer Jr (MICAL) 6-0, 6-0.

Boys Singles - Patrick Mackey Jr (MICAL) def. Ayai Bethel (Eleuthera) 6-3, 6-4.

Women’s Singles - Richette Percentie (Eleuthera) walkover.

Girls Singles - Felicity McPhee (Eleuthera) def. Syrae Feaster (MICAL) 6-0, 6-0.

Men’s Doubles - Zander Cromwell and Kevin Major Jr. (Eleuthera) def Patrick Mackey Jr and Dentry Mortimer Jr (MICAL) 6-0, 6-0.

Women’s Doubles - Kaylee Kanuka and Elana Mackey (Eleuthera) walkover.

Andros def. New Providence 6-0

Men’s Singles - Michael Major Jr (Andros) def Justin Lunn (New Providence) 6-0, 6-0.

Boys Singles - Savano Hanna (Andros) def Miguel Smith (New Providence) 6-3, 6-3.

Women’s Singles - Sydney Clarke (Andros) def Elanqua Griffin (New Providence) 6-2, 6-1.

Girls Singles - Sarai Clarke (Andros) def Aryuana Davis (New Providence) 6-0, 6-2.

Men’s Doubles - Michael Major Jr. and Philip Major Jr. (Andros) def Justin Lunn and Marvin Rolle (New Providence) walkover

Women’s Doubles - Sarai and Sydney Clarke (Andros) def Elanqua Griffin and Sierra Rodgers (New Providence) 6-0, 6-2.

– The gold and bronze medal ties as well as the battle for fifth and sixth place will begin at 9am today at the NTC.