West tennis earns fourth straight crown

By: | SCNow
Published: May 12, 2008

COLUMBIA — Charles Nelson admitted he was nervous.
But he was also confident when Saturday’s Class 4A boys tennis state championship match came down to No. 1 doubles at Parklane Tennis Center.
Bobby Browning and Pruitt Williams made certain their coach’s confidence wasn’t misplaced by beating Lexington’s Derek Dickey and Gordon Lucas 6-4, 5-7, 11-9 to win the Knights’ second straight state title and the fourth of Nelson’s coaching career.
It was déjá vú of sorts, as well. Last season’s title match came down to the exact same matchup — same situation, same players — when the Knights came out on top.
Everything seemed OK when Browning and Williams won the first set. But when Dickey and Lucas stole back the momentum to send the match to a tie-breaker, it was the perfect opportunity for the West Florence duo to fold.
It never happened.
“That’s when you saw these two kids play their best. They made some of the most incredible shots in the world,” said Nelson, who also guided the Knights to state titles in 1985 and ’86.
Nelson said his team also drew some motivation this year from others’ doubts.
“Everybody said we couldn’t do it even though we had the same players back” Nelson said. “It’s hard to explain how good it felt when we won. This year, I got a Gatorade bath. I wouldn’t let them do it last year. This year, it felt good. I could not have asked for more.”
The Knights also got singles victories from Browning and Pruitt, as well as Matthew Cenelon. Lexington’s Barron Wells and Parker Adkins beat West’s Rhys Miles and Price Gibson 6-4, 6-0 in the first doubles match to set up the drama.
The Knights finished the season 22-3.