Bulldogs Fall in District Tennis Team Championship
- RoMoAthletics
- May 10
- 6 min read
May 8th, 2026
The Rolla Bulldogs Tennis team was looking to capture their first ever district championship on Thursday but standing in their way was long time rival, the Lebanon Yellowjackets.
The two teams had split matches earlier in the season which led them to the District Championship showdown in Rolla at Ber Juan Park. It was a competitive battle in all of the matches but in the end the Bulldogs fell, 3 to 5.
Setting the Strategy
Tennis is an interesting sport that relies on rankings to establish match-ups when teams meet. In singles, the teams declare their top players ranked 1 through 6, and those players will match up with their counterpart and play. Those rankings are logged and kept.
In Doubles, you have more relay because of strengths and weaknesses, relationships and compatibility. It can happen that a very good individual player, doesn’t necessarily make a good doubles parter when it comes to managing court spacing and knowing when to hit and when to let it go.
It also gives you some flexibility in your strategy. While in Singles you know that the #1’s will always face each other. But in Doubles you can shift players to strengthen teams, to improve match-ups.
In the first meeting of the season Lebanon was able to win the doubles matches 2-1, winning the doubles 1 and 3 matches. In the second meeting, Rolla again lost in Dubs 1 but also dominated again in Dubs 2 as well as pulling out a win in convincing fashion in Dubs 3 to get the 2-1 advantage.
Having the 2-1 lead when heading into singles means you just need to split the matches to secure the 5 points needed to claim victory. With the consistency of our Dubs 3 team, Lebanon decided to make a move.
Breaking the Doubles
Based upon history and scouting, Lebanon was confident in their Doubles 1 team as they were heading to State after winning the Individual District Championship against the Rolla Dubs 1.
The Yellowjackets have one of the top players in the State in Conor McGruder as their #1 and when paired up with the #2 Josh Rogers, as a Doubles team they are extremely potent and a duo pair that we had not beaten.
Lebanon staff also knew that they would not win the Dubs 2 match-up was seniors Cam Brown and Paxton Ledbetter had rarely given up a point to the Yellowjacket doubles 2.
So, the decision was made to drop their #4 player down to Doubles 3 and move their #6 player up to Doubles 2. Essentially, sacrificing a match to try and capture the 2-1 advantage.
Coach Vinyard expected that this change would happen but changing up partners at this time of the year is risky when so much chemistry has been built throughout the season.
“In doubles, Lebanon switched up their doubles teams, which I expected they might do. However, we were confident that we could handle that adjustment. It didn't seem to make sense for us to switch things up and put our guys in a position to play with other doubles partners than they had all year.”
In the rematch of the Individuals District Doubles Championship, the Dubs 1 again fell to the Yellowjackets in an absolute battle of high quality tennis. Big serves. Big returns, It did not go the Bulldogs way but it was a fantastic performance by two extremely competitive teams.
Dubs 2 took care of business as expected. They were consistently able to get their first serve in to set the tone. Coach Vinyard was pleased with the way they controlled the game. “They stayed patient, got the ball cross court on returns and took advantage of missed hits at the net and did a nice job of putting the ball off the court and making it where they couldn't return the ball.”
The Dubs 3 contest was pure excitement. With Lebanon now playing their #4 and #5 players, the Bulldogs maintained the consistency of their Dubs 3 with the Bulldog #5 Connor Johnson and Jack Greenway. While Greenway is not the Bulldog #6 and does not play single matches, the complimentary styles between the two and the chemistry they have built has allowed them to dominate Dubs 3 all season long.
It was a back and forth contest that ended up tied at 7. The other two matches were done and everyone was gathered around to watch this match. A large crowd was on hand and each side celebrated the big hits and winning points.
In the district format, they now used the 8 pro set when the match was tied 7-7. “We had "add-in" three different times to take an 8-7 lead but just weren't able to win that crucial point. A credit to them that they hit a few really nice volleys, said Vinyard. Lebanon ended up taking the match 9-7.
Single Focus
Facing a 1-2 deficit in singles play, meant the Bulldogs had to win 4 of the 6 singles matches against some bid time players. The question a coach has at moments like this is how will his team respond. “At this point, we huddled up, re-focused, and from here on out, it was some of the best tennis that we have played all year.”
In Singles #1, Renaud was taking on McGruder and dropped the first set as he struggled on his first serve which impacted his ability to be aggressive. Renaud did not let that bother him as in the words of Vinyard, “his groundstrokes and volleys were outstanding.”
In the second set, it was an absolute slugfest with two titans trading punches back and forth for the whole set. Renaud, down 5-6 tried to force a second set tie-break, but could not finish the comeback and dropped the final set.
Brown dropped the first set 4-6 in Singles 3, then came back and got the second set 6-2. In the third set, which in districts is a 10 point tie-breaker, Brown was in control throughout. “He was dialed in and played great tennis,” said Vinyard.
In singles 4, Paxton Ledbetter was working and had an edge since this was the player that had moved down to Doubles 3. Ledbetter won both sets easily and had very few service errors. Vineyard was pleased to see the growth in his groundstrokes and he attacked from the baseline. By not sitting back, he was able to put himself into high percentage situations.
The Ledbetter win now put the score at 3-4, with the Bulldogs trailing Lebanon.
Just like in Dubs 3, the battle that Johnson put on in singles 5 was exciting and came down to the wire. Johnson won his first set and then dropped the second set which forced a 10 point tie-break. Johnson was able to use his aggression and jump out to a 7-4 lead, but wasn't able to hold off a late challenge by Lebanon's #5. Vineyard was impressed with the Senior who was in his first year as a varsity player. “He left everything on the court, and I couldn't be more proud of how hard he played.”
Loyal Davis, who moved up to the #6 spot, dropped the first set, then found himself down 2-5 and Lebanon only needed two points to finish the match. He battled back and had it tied 5-5 in the second set, when the Lebanon #5 got their 5th win and the match was stopped. Vineyard was pleased with the performance by the junior and what it means for next season. “He never quit, adjusted a bit, and gave himself a chance to win if it came down to him. And it almost did.”
Finishing 19-2 as a team
“Our players played fearlessly, hit with conviction, and played for each other. We just came up on the losing side against a very good team,” said Vinyard.
“A few points here and there, in this match, does not determine how well we played in the championship and the journey we had together this season. These boys showed me that battles are sometimes lost in the same spirit in which they are won. I am thankful for that spirit in each one of them.”
The Bulldogs finish their team play with a 2nd place finish at Districts and a 19-2 record for the season. Both losses came at the hands of Lebanon.
The Dubs 1 team of Renaud and Johnson will play their first round of State Tennis on May 15th at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.