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Lady Hornets Tennis
10/09/2023 State First Round
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Story by Coach Chambers
Lady Hornet Tennis Knocked Out in Sweet 16
On Monday morning, the CHS girls' tennis team traveled
to St. Joseph to face off in the round of 16 for the MSHSAA team
state tournament with winners advancing to quarterfinals that
afternoon. Chillicothe had to face off against Savannah's team for
the fourth time this season, never previously winning a dual against
them this season. The final outcome was the same again on this day,
but the team played their best tennis of the season with a much more
solid showing against the strong SHS team.
As in all other duals, the day started off with
Doubles. Washburn & Garr faced off against their common SHS foe
Blake & Till. Chillicothe's #1 pair went up quickly 5-1, but then
they let the savages back in the match at a 5-5 tie. After that
scare, Chillicothe's duo took control again and finished the match
8-5. On the two courts next to them, BeVelle & Crowe and Clark &
Shira played great tennis with long rallies, strong ground strokes,
and consistent serves, but it was not enough to overpower the
dominant SHS #2 and #3 pairs. The other team was just slightly more
consistent and eventually won their matches 4-8 each.
Then, the entire team moved to Singles play
simultaneously. The toughest part of postseason singles play is that
it shifts to two sets of six game play instead of pro-8 singular
sets. This pushed most singles matches past the hour mark for most
of the team. Every court was highly competitive and showcased
beautiful high school tennis for the large Chillicothe crowd to
watch. Both coaches counted rallies lasting 20-30 hits on multiple
courts at the same time as well as many matches going to deuce
scores. First up, the #4 court finished with SHS beating CHS. Next,
the #3 match went the same way. This put the team score at 4-1 and
looking nearly over on two other courts. However, Bianca Clark
played a doozy of a match -- starting off down 1-5 in her first set.
She battled back to win six of her next seven games in a row, taking
the first set to a tie break. Even the tiebreak was incredibly
close, but she squeezed out a win 7-5 in that tense moment. Clark's
grit and mental strength allowed all her teammates to continue their
matches, so the team match would not get called early. As she
continued into her long second set, Rylee Washburn also mounted an
incredible comeback on the #1 court. She had dropped the first set
to Savannah's two-time state medalist Alvarez 3-6. Washburn played
spectacular tennis in that first set but couldn't seem to break
Alvarez. Then, she found herself down 1-5 in the second set and one
game away from the entire team match being lost. Like her teammate,
Rylee battled hard and won five straight games, which is an unheard
of accomplishment against a player like Alvarez. Because of this
added time to keep playing, Chillicothe's #2 Isabella Garr was
granted just a big enough time window to close out her match and get
Chillicothe their second team point on the day. As Washburn and
Clark had taken the leads on their court and continued to fight,
sadly the #6 match concluded with a fifth and final loss for
Chillicothe, so Clark and Washburn left their matches officially
marked as Unfinished.
Coaches Chambers and Pyrtle knew the day would be
marked with incredibly difficult head-to-head matches and had simply
instructed their players to go out and hit with no fear. To play
tough and hard with no regrets. They saw that on every court and
felt very proud to finish their team season with such high level
play, especially to end with such exciting matches for their
seniors' last ever singles' matches. On Friday, Washburn and Garr
will compete in the individual state tournament for Doubles to
complete the entire season.
Final results:
Washburn & Garr beat Blake & Till 8-5.
BeVelle & Crowe lost to Alvarez & Moore 4-8.
Clark & Shira lost to Fischer & Alexander 4-8.
Washburn was unfinished with Alvarez 3-6, 6-5 . . .
Garr beat Blake 6-4, 6-2.
BeVelle lost to Till 1-6, 4-6.
Crowe lost to Fischer 0-6, 1-6.
Clark was unfinished with Moore 7-6 (tiebreak 7-5), 3-4 . . .
Keonnia Morgan lost to Alexander 1-6, 1-6. |
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