Chemistry delivers for team of Gardner and Payne at Pritchett Moore Invitational

Weather forced the Pritchett-Moore Men’s City Invitational had to call an audible, but it couldn’t throw off the chemistry between Kent Gardner and Chad Payne.

The doubles team Gardner-Payne defeated Peter Wright and Brad Boswell in straight sets inside of the Roberta Alison Baumgardner ‘s Tennis Complex.

Rain and thunderstorms forced the Pritchett-Moore to move inside the University of Alabama’s indoor facility. The first four days of the tournament were played at Indian Hills Country Club.

Gardner and Payne have been playing tennis with one another for a decade, including trips to USTA sectionals.

“Since probably when 2013 or so we came across each other at a usta tournament in birmingham and we were close ever since and we played on a few usta teams together,” said Gardner, a Hillcrest High School graduate.

Gardner and Payne won the first set, 6-4 before closing out the match with a 6-3 win in set No. 2. They enter the weekend as serious contenders for the tournament championship in the Open doubles division. After their latest win the duo was not interested in talking about title-aspirations.

“Five years ago (our playing styles) complimented each other really well,” Payne joked before his partner added, “now we’re just struggling to get the ball in”.

The Pritchett-Moore Men’s City Invitational tournament wraps up this weekend, with the semifinals on Saturday and the championship on Sunday.