The Blue Ridge District boys tennis tournament concluded Friday evening with the singles and doubles championships. William Byrd's Brennan Escobar won the singles title and then teamed up with Trevor Perdue to claim the doubles crown.

Singles

Byrd's top two players, Brennan Escobar (#1) and Joseph Davis (#2), squared off in the singles final.  Both went undefeated in singles during the district regular season, and both quickly dispatched their quarter and semifinal opponents by identical scores of 6-0; 6-0 and 6-2; 6-0.  Teammates for the past two years, they know each other well.  There were no secrets.  Escobar would lean on his pinpoint ground strokes, and Davis would counter with his athletic, all-court attack. 

Escobar jumped ahead 4-1 in the first set before Davis found his rhythm and fought back to 4-3.  Up to the challenge, Escobar closed out the first set 6-4.  Davis started fast in the second, racing to a 4-1 lead, and seemed on the verge of forcing a third set.  But as he has often over the past two years, Escobar took his opponent's best, then played a little better.  He won the last five games to post the 6-3; 6-4 victory. 

Escobar owns three of the last four Blue Ridge District titles, and on May 31, 2010, he will begin defense of his Region III crown.  Davis qualfied for regional singles play for the first time.    

Doubles

With their #1 and #2 doubles in the semifinals, Byrd was looking to make it the second, all-Terrier final.  Brennan Escobar and Trevor Perdue cruised into the final with a tidy 6-1; 6-4 victory over Alleghany's Ethan Smith and Bryan Bess.  The other semifinal was a war.  Alleghany's Seth Thompson and Scott Wolfe won 7-5 in a back and forth first set.  Byrd's Joseph Davis and Jim Fisher came right back to seize the momentum and win the second set 6-3.  The third set featured long rallies and passionate tennis.  Neither team could shake the resolve of the other, and the match came down to a third set tiebreaker.  Thompson and Wolfe seized an early lead and swept to a 7-3 tiebreak victory, thus taking the match. 

In the final, an energetic Escobar and Perdue overwhelmed the Alleghany pair to take the first set 6-0.  Thompson and Wolfe slowed the momentum of the Terriers with a heavy dose of lobs and jumped out to a 4-2 lead in set number two.  However, in the next three games, Escobar unleashed a series of heavy groundstrokes and Perdue controlled the net to push the Terriers ahead 5-4.  Perdue held serve to close out the second set 6-4 and give the Terriers the Blue Ridge District Doubles title. 

Escobar repeats as a member of the district doubles champion.  This is Perdue's first district doubles title.  Both teams advance to regional play on May 31, 2010.