When Andalusia sophomore Chris Smith walked off the court Friday after falling 6-1, 6-1 to UMS-Wright’s Bronson Wessinger in the finals of the Class 4A state tennis tournament in Mobile, he vowed he’d bring a state championship home before he graduates.

Smith beat Douglas’ Michael McLauglin in the semifinals winning the first set in a tiebreaker, and won 6-2 in the second set.

“That first match I was playing great,” Smith said. “I was working the ball around, and he couldn’t hit a winner.

“Against (Wessinger), the only thing I can do is run and run,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything with the ball. If I would’ve hit the ball, then I would’ve won.”

On Thursday, Smith beat Jemison’s Drew Posey 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2 in a tiebreaker in the first round, and cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Haleyville’s Dustin Young in the quarterfinals.

“He did a good job,” AHS boys tennis coach Perry Dillard said. “He came back in the first set against Douglas in the semifinals, and once he won the first set, he was able to break the guy’s (McLaughlin) spirit.”

Dillard said the score against UMS-Wright wasn’t indicative of how Smith played the match.

“He played really well against UMS, but there were a lot of close games,” he said. “Those guys are really, really good.”

In the end, Dillard said it was good that his team made it to the second day of the state tournament.

“We had a lot of close games that didn’t go our way,” he said. “We’re just glad we got to play on the last day on the last match.”