Russell County tennis star Lucas McFall prepares for one last run in the State Tournament

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - The end of May and the beginning of June marks the end of the school year and the start of the spring sports State Tournaments. For Russell County senior Lucas McFall, it’s the start of one last ride on the court.

After a near three hour tennis match, McFall became one of the first Russell County tennis players to ever win a 4th Region title in Tennis, after already clinching his way into the big dance.

“I mean, I knew I had that. I knew I could win. I mean, I was expected to come. I had high expectations going into it, but it was a really long match. So I was just I was relieved more than anything by the end of it.”

Growing up, Lucas was always around tennis with his dad and uncle playing all the time. But Lucas didn’t start really playing tennis until the 6th grade and says he wasn’t even good at that time for a couple of years. But once the pandemic came into our lives, it gave him a chance to focus on bettering his craft.

“Well, it wasn’t until definitely after COVID. Like I I was not good in eighth grade and I didn’t I didn’t get a freshman or sophomore season, because it’s a spring sport, and that’s when COVID hit was Spring freshman year,” McFall said. “So when nobody else was doing anything, that’s kind of all I had to do, was go play. So I just played a lot during that time. And then I came back and I was like, ‘Man, I’m beating these people that used to absolutely kill me’ so that it felt good. And then I was like, maybe I’m better than I thought I was.”

Lucas isn’t the only McFall to shine on the court though, his cousin Addyson will also be playing in the Tennis State Championships representing Barren County.

“Oh, it’s it’s definitely something special because it’s Addyson McFall, and Lukas McFall. And we were the only two people that made it to state that weren’t actually from Warren County,” McFall said. “So it was pretty cool that the only two people were from the same family. I didn’t know she was that good though. She she really surprised me this year. She’s gotten a lot better, but it’s really cool.”

His family was kind of surprised that they both did so well in the Region Tournament and made it this far. Tennis must run in the family’s blood because his other cousin Matthew Satterly won the 12th Region Boys single title as well and they both will compete in the State Tournament with the chance that they could end up facing each other.

“I’m treating him like everybody else but that would be neat,” he said. “That would be neat to know that at least one of us is advancing, obviously I’d want it to be me, but that would be pretty interesting.”

As he is competing in his last state tournament, Lucas is looking forward to finishing what he started last year. McFall was playing through a wrist injury and ended up having a bone spur that got worse and prevented him from playing 8-9 months after dropping out of the state tournament.

“So last year, I ended up winning the first round, and I lost in the second round because I ended up getting injured and I had to forfeit it. So I definitely want to make it past that second round this year for sure. Make it to the second day of the state tournament, that’d be awesome,” he said. “And then, you know, just show people put Russell County out there I mean, show them that we can you know we got a tennis program here too.

Dropping out of the tournament in heartbreaking fashion has made him more hungry and motivated to right the wrong of last year.

He won’t be pursuing a tennis career in college but he’s going to miss his coaches and all of the people who has been around him during his journey.

McFall will drive down to Lexington Monday night and will kick off his last State Tournament run on Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m. at the Top Seed Tennis Club.

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