Hartselle’s Collins thrived under pressure

For the Enquirer

Standing 5-foot-1 and weighing 85 pounds, Hartselle’s Reid Collins didn’t look intimidating when he stepped on tennis courts to face the No. 1 singles players from opposing schools this season, and he knew it.

“Going into every match, I always looked like the underdog,” said Collins, who was an eighth grader this spring on the Hartselle High team. “Everybody was like a foot taller and four years older.” But Collins recognized that being much younger than opponents also meant he had much more of his potential still to tap, and that gave him confidence.

“I knew I was only going to get better,” he said.

By the end of the season, he used solid mechanics that give him leverage with his strokes to finish second in the Class 6A No. 1 singles draw at the state tournament, helping Hartselle High finish second as a team.

For his accomplishments, he is The Decatur Daily All-Area Player of the Year for boys tennis.

He received his introduction to tennis four or five years ago on the old tennis courts at Austin Junior High that have since been converted for pickleball use. He and his father, Al, would hit tennis balls while his sister Brooke practiced on an adjacent field with her travel softball team.

Collins became serious about tennis a year or two later during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I played baseball, basketball, football, I tried everything. And then it was COVID and we couldn’t really do any of the other sports. So we tried tennis, and I just really liked it.” The constant action appealed to him, according to his mother, Sandy.

“Whereas baseball was slow, … when he got into tennis, he was doing something at all times.” He took his first lessons from Danny Light at Burningtree Country Club and later began training under Dan Lucas, who teaches at Decatur’s Jimmy Johns Tennis Center.

By the time Collins was in seventh grade at Hartselle Junior High, he earned the No. 1 singles position on the Hartselle High team coached by Chris Pressnell.

“When he came to school here, he already was an outstanding tennis player. That is pre-me,” said Pressnell, a member of Austin High’s 1989 state championship team.

Collins has continued to work hard, and Pressnell said he sees him practicing with his father outside of team training times. Collins is a top student who also uses his intelligence on the court, according to Pressnell.

“He thinks his way through matches,” Pressnell said. “He figures things out. … When you go out on the court with him, you better be ready to go to battle.

“His serve is going to get better and better as he gets a little bit older and a little bit stronger. But he already hits great ground strokes, and he is so consistent. He’ll hit 30 shots with you if he needs to to win a point. He will grind.” Collins rose to the occasion in the state tournament when the pressure was on in a tight team race with Northridge and Spanish Fort for second behind eventual champion and heavy favorite Mountain Brook.

In the quarterfinals, Collins faced a player he’d lost to three times earlier in the season, but took a crucial 6-4, 6-2 victory over Decatur’s Brady Mann.

Collins said he had a match point he failed to convert in one of his earlier losses to Mann, but that near-miss gave him confidence heading into their state semifinal.

“I got better through the season so I knew I could (win),” Collins said.

He then defeated Trin-ity Presbyterian’s Samuel Treadwell in the semifinals before losing in the championship match to Mountain Brook’s Luke Schwefler.

Pressnell said Collins’ quarterfinal and semifinal victories were vital for the team’s Class 6A runner-up finish, along with a victory by Hartselle’s No. 3 doubles team.

Zeke Priola and Marc Cera trailed a decisive tiebreaker 6-1 before coming back to win it 11-9 in the No. 3 doubles semifinals. That win represented a sixpoint swing for the teams because it gave Hartselle three points and prevented three for Northridge.

“It was an unbelievable match. The kids were ready to play,” Pressnell said of Priola and Cera. “They were gritty, tough and clutch.” Hartselle finished with 39 points, just enough to clinch second ahead of Spanish Fort (33) and Northridge (30).

All of Hartselle’s other singles players – Landon Robinson, Ben Carnes, Nolan Sparks, Cera and Sam Stone – won one or more matches in state play.. “I was blessed to coach a team full of great kids who have a real desire to get better and to win, Pressnell said. “They pushed themselves to be better.”