by Lloyd Combs
Sports Reporter    
      Grundy fell to Carroll County, 8-1, in Southwest District girls tennis play Thursday.
       Lady Wave sophomore Andrea McNutt defeated Brooke Willis, 8-6, at number five singles to earn Grundy's only win.
      Grundy has a young, but experienced team, says first-year coach Amber Lee Davis, that is slowly, but surely, becoming competitive.
      "We started off slow," Davis said. "I'm new to the team and I had no idea what to expect, so it took awhile to get situated and to get rolling.
     "We've started to compete. We're not winning yet, but we're putting up a fight nw. We've definitely improved."
      The Lady Wave roster includes just one senior, Jenna Stiltner; four juniors, Sara Mullins, Bethany Dotson, Angel Scammell and Crystal Carter; three sophomores, Km Potter, Jodie Jackson and Phantasia Boyd and three freshmen, Morgan Reynolds, Kaitlin Hess and Amber Bennett.

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by Lloyd Combs
Sports Reporter    
      Grundy may or may not get out of the cellar this year in the Southwest District, but it has already taken an important step in that direction.
     Abingdon broke open a close game in the seventh inning and handed the Golden Wave a 16-7 setback in SWD play Thursday evening at Enoch's Branch.
     On Friday, Grundy was shut out, 5-0, at longtime SWD power Tazewell.
     The Golden Wave jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first inning Thursday against district pre-season favorite Abingdon and trailed the Falcons 9-7 through six innings. Abingdon (7-5) erupted for seven runs off four Wave pitchers in the seventh.
     The efforts of two freshman starting pitchers Thursday and Friday in particular, and the overall efforts of Grundy, which has struggled to go past five innings in games and stay out of last place in the standings in recent years, is encouraging, says coach Scotty Bostic, for a young team and an improving program.
     "We played well, but we struggled in the seventh," Bostic said. "But we've finally got to where we're competitive. For six innings we gave (Abingdon) all they could handle.
     "That was our main goal this year. We knew with freshman and sophomores starting in at least five spots, we were basically a JV team playing against varsity, and here at the end of the year, we're finally doing it. We're not winning, but we're competing and we're getting better."
      Freshman Cody Justus struggled at times, but pitched out of jams and kept Grundy close against Abingdon. Freshman Jon Kelly limited Tazewell to just four hits, and shut out the Bulldogs on just one over the last four innings.
      "Cody threw six innings and he tired in the seventh, he hadn't thrown that much all year," Bostic said. "But he gave us a shot to win it.