Senior Jabin Talley’s complete rewrite of the Carroll County High School tennis record book continued Thursday with the 60th and 61st varsity wins of his career.
Those victories came Thursday as Talley led the Cavaliers to an 8-1 victory over Galax in Hillsville. Talley defeated his Maroon Tide opponent 8-0 at No. 1 singles for his 60th varsity win. Later, he teamed with Ethan Richardson at No. 1 doubles to win 8-0. Counting non-high school UTR and UTSA events, Talley has now won 100 matches in his young career.
“He’s just so fast he can run most everything down,” said Greg Talley, Jabin’s high school coach and father. “Glenvar’s coach, Bob Haynie, told me Jabin had the best top spin he had ever seen. Last year when we went up there he said Jabin was by far the best player they had seen.”
It didn’t take Jabin Talley to take the mantle of Carroll County’s number one singles player during his freshman season. After going 4-4 in the district his ninth grade year, Talley’s career has skyrocketed since then. In the three years since his freshman campaign, Talley has only dropped one Three Rivers District match.
Talley’s serve generally averages between 105 and 110 miles per hour, something which gives most high school players fits. He’s already signed with Southwest Virginia Community College to continue his tennis career and Talley has the potential to win as many as 73 high school matches if he wins out during the regular season.
“He was probably about 11 when he first picked up a racket. His sister, Hadassah Hawks, went out for tennis that year, so we would go down and practice with her and that is where he kind of first started. Doug Hines started working with him at first,” Greg Talley said. “The first tournament he entered was at the Blacksburg Mid-Summer Classic. He played in it and won it, beat the guy that won the Commonwealth Games.”
Hines is now the head girls’ tennis coach at Floyd County. At that point, Andy Sarver began working with Talley. By the time he was an eighth grader, Talley was practicing with former Carroll coach Scott John and the Cavalier varsity team.
“Part of his success is because of his speed, but a lot of it has been his coaching. We have been fortunate to have the right people coach him. It is key to have somebody who knows what they are doing,” Greg Talley said. “He’s had some really good coaches and he started going to tournaments at Virginia Tech. That is where he got good, practicing with those guys. Then he would go to summer camps and practices on Sundays. He started getting in the UTR and UTSA, which is where you get ranked, and he started moving up the list.”
Jabin Talley has advanced to the high school regionals each of his first three seasons at Carroll, and his senior campaign looks to be no different. Talley currently sports a 6-2 record in singles on the season despite fighting through a quarter-sized blister and a non-related injury for part of the 2024 season.
“Jabin has been hurt all year, been down in quite a few matches and has had to dig down to beat them,” Greg Talley said. “All the kids on the team respect him, and he actually does more coaching than I do. He is constantly stopping and helping the other players and telling them how to get better. He is awesome at that kind of stuff.”
Also the starting point guard for Carroll County’s basketball team, Talley helped guide the Cavaliers to one of the top five seasons in men’s basketball at CCHS, winning 21 games.
“Jabin’s always been good at everything. He was a good baseball player when he was younger, and he was a starter for the varsity basketball team,” Greg Talley said. “He did tennis for fun. We didn’t think it would go anywhere, but then he just kept getting better and better.”
Carroll’s tennis team is scheduled to wrap up the regular season on May 16 at Alleghany. VHSL regional competition will begin on May 20.
“He’s just been a joy to watch and to coach,” Greg Talley said.
Allen Worrell can be reached at (276) 779-4062 or on X@AWorrellTCN
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