On May 1 and May 4, 2026, the Leesville Road High School Varsity Men’s Tennis team competed in 8A Individual Regionals. 

The 8A East region consists of Leesville, Rolesville, Corinth Holders, Wakefield, Millbrook, Enloe, Brougton, Athens Drive, Hoggard, and Laney. Each team enters two singles players and two doubles teams. 

Leesville was represented in the singles pool by #3 seed Holden Smith and #5 seed Ryan Pascoe. In doubles, Leesville entered Tyler Byrum and Jack Goatcher as a pair and Kyle Lange and Aidan Flynn. 

On Friday May 1, the team traveled to Althea Gibson Tennis Complex in Wilmington to compete. The 8A coaches had a meeting at 9:00am to declare the top four seeds in each bracket and draw names for the rest of the pool. 

Throughout the day, the boys played seven matches resulting in six wins and four out of five teams moving into the next day. 

Despite each team playing their own draw, the team was able to rally around each other. Seven players traveled to Wilmington to support their teammates.

Smith, senior, said, “Even though it was individuals, we all still got to compete as a team and cheer each other on.” 

Smith, Byrum, Goatcher, Lange, and Flynn were set to play rounds three and four on Saturday, May 2, but the weather changed everything. 

Play was suspended until Monday, May 3, but AP exams and traveling complicated things.

Hoggard still had players in the singles draw; since they were the host school, Smith had to travel back to Wilmington on Monday for a 2:00pm match while the doubles teams played at Millbrook Exchange Park at 4:15pm. 

Smith said, “Honestly, I didn’t like going there because it got rained out and there was more driving. We also had to play at their high school where they always get to play.”

Smith won the semi finals match against Corinth Holders regular season #1 and then lost against Hoggard’s regular season #1 6-3, 6-2 in the finals. 

Smith said, “I made it to the finals, but competition was a little harder this year. I’m glad I played singles instead of doubles. I like playing by myself dictating my own point.” 

Conversely, back in Raleigh, both doubles teams lost in the semi-final round. 

Byrum and Goatcher played against Broughton’s regular season #2 doubles pair. They won the first set and were losing by two games when a player got injured. 

Goatcher, sophomore, said, “I thought me and Tyler played well. I don’t think that really [Monday’s outcome] talked about how we played because it was an injury but I think we played well and we played aggressive. We were in a long point when [Tyler] landed in one of those court divots. He stopped and rolled his ankle and fell over the side pits.” 

Lange and Flynn played Broughton’s regular season #1 team composed of two experienced seniors. 

Flynn, sophomore, said, “It was a really tough match, obviously. All of them are seniors, including my partner, and it was tough playing at that level. It was really difficult to keep up — serve wise and pace wise, the ball was coming a lot faster. Overall, it was a tougher game to stay locked in.” 

Nevertheless, the Pride’s season is not over. They will continue to compete in Dual Team States in the third round. The Pride is ranked #1 in 8A east, anticipating to host two playoff matches the week of May 11, 2026.