NATCHEZ &045; You can’t really say Matt Goss had it easy once he got into the finals of the boys’ singles.

But the wind was definitely behind his back.

Goss had to go an extra set to fend off Tyler Smith of West Lincoln for a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win in the semifinals at the Division 2-1A tennis tournament Monday at Duncan Park. He then rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Drew Yawn of Bogue Chitto in the championship.

Goss’ win sparked the Green Wave to a division title. The team had two titles and two-runner-up finishes to edge out Resurrection and St. Aloysius.

&uot;My first match was pretty easy, but the second match was probably the hardest of the whole tournament,&uot; said Goss, who will be making his first appearance at the state tournament next week in Jackson. &uot;That second one took a lot out of me. I played better than I thought I could play. I started playing bad, but I got it together and started playing much better.&uot;

The win over Smith and eventually the title was the two bright spots for the Green Wave, although it will carry more players to the state tournament next week than last year. The boys’ doubles team of Clay Pennington and Turner Smith muscled out wins in the semifinals and finals in straight sets to make a third straight trip to the state tournament.

The Wave will also send its mixed doubles team of Will Carter and Kate Ellard and its girls’ doubles team of Kelin Hendricks and Mattie Smith after each earned a spot in the finals.

&uot;Last year we took three teams to state, and none of our singles made it,&uot; CHS coach Cloyce Hinton said. &uot;But Matt pulled it off this year. Matt’s got two matches to win state now. That West Lincoln kid &045; he hadn’t beaten him all year. He worked hard last week. He worked on his serve real well, and he was getting a lot of his first serves in today.

&uot;But a lot of our kids worked hard this week. We need to get a good week of practice in, and we could have a real good shot at winning state.&uot;

Goss started the tournament with a win over Chris Guizerix of St. Aloysius, 6-1, 6-0, to earn a rematch against Smith, who has a history of matching up favorably against Goss this season and last season.

Goss took the first set but came up short in the second as Smith won 6-4. Then he was solid in the third with a 6-1 win to close it out.

&uot;I just had to regroup and get myself back together,&uot; Goss said. &uot;It was probably the first day my serve was really going in. He beat me twice this year. Last year I beat him both times during the regular season, but this time he beat during the regular season and I beat him in district.&uot;

In boys’ doubles, Pennington and Smith were solid in their wins to get the division title, winning easy in the first match before having to fight off St. Al in the second set of that match.

After taking the first set 6-0, Pennington and Smith broke away from a 3-3 tie in the second set to take a 6-3 win over St. Al’s Shih-Ting Huang and Matthew Jenkins.

&uot;If I’m on (with my serve), they’ll have trouble getting it back,&uot; Pennington said. &uot;If I can swing it good, they’ll hit it back to Turner and he’s going to put it away. They had a good net game. We had to keep them off the net.&uot;

The win put the team in its third straight state tournament after playing steady throughout the regular season. The duo won the state title two years ago but lost in the first round to the St. Aloysius team, the one they beat the year prior for the championship.

But there’s also a Greenville St. Joseph team that may be a formidable opponent from the north.

&uot;The St. Joe team, we beat them as freshmen and they made it to the finals last year,&uot; Smith said. &uot;They’ll be back.&uot;

The girls’ doubles team got the finals after Hinton tweaked the lineup a bit during the week. Hendricks and Mattie Smith opened with a 6-0, 6-0 win over West Lincoln before posting a 6-4, 6-3 win over the Resurrection’s Reagan Watjus and Brittany Nulta to get to the finals.

But St. Al’s Carrie and Bonnie Neall took the match, 6-2, 6-1.

Cathedral’s mixed doubles of Carter and Ellard got through West Lincoln, 6-1, 6-0 before downing St. Al 7-6, 6-2. Resurrection’s Cannon Ledford and Hilary Polchow took the championship, 6-0, 7-5.