The Knoxville Catholic girls’ tennis team routed rival Baylor, 4-0, to repeat as Division II-AA state champions on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Photo by Charles Mays Media).
BY DAVE LINK
Catholic tennis coach Rusty Morris has been around the Knoxville-area tennis scene for a long time, and he can’t recall a player being more dominant than senior Maeve Thornton.
The Furman signee has not lost a high school match in three years. Singles or doubles. And she’s been playing against the state’s toughest competition in Division II-AA, the large private-school class.
Thornton and the Lady Irish will attempt to complete a remarkable three-year run this week in the TSSAA state tournament at the Adams Tennis Complex in Murfreesboro.
Catholic’s girls will attempt to win their third consecutive Division II-AA state team title, starting Tuesday at 9 a.m. (CT) in the semifinals against Nashville’s Ensworth. The championship match is Wednesday.
Thornton goes for her third straight Division II-AA state singles championship Thursday and Friday in the individual tournaments for singles and doubles.
“It’ll be exciting,” Morris said. “The team’s excited for the opportunity again and that chance to go compete again. They like the team competition.”
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Thornton likes any competition, and you could say that for her teammates, too.
Catholic’s girls have been ranked No. 1 in the nation among high school teams since last fall by Universal Tennis Ranking(UTR)
Sophomore Lillie Murphy (No. 2 singles) hasn’t lost a singles or doubles match in two years.
Junior Eleni Liakonis (No. 3) has lost just two matches in her career; one was to Thornton as a freshman in the region finals, the other one, also her freshman year, was to Tulane signee Sean Mullin of St. Benedict in a three-set state semifinal.
Murphy and Liakonis won the Division II-AA state doubles championship last year.
And senior Gigi Sompayrac (No. 4) has raised her game to the Division I college level, having signed with Anderson (S.C.) University. Payton Carroll, a transfer from Utah, and Karenna Thurman round out the top-six lineup.
There is no doubt Thornton is the leader, a relentless, fierce competitor.
Morris compares her play to one of the all-time greats, Rafael Nadal.
“She just never takes a point off,” Morris said. “There’s never a time when she’s not setting up a point for her best shot. She’s working a gameplan each point, working the point. She never has one of those points where she goes, ‘I think I’ll just go for it,’ and make an error on the first ball. That never happens. She’s always constructing a point. It’s like running up against Nadal. If you win a point, you’re like, ‘How hard was that? How many more times can I do that?’ ”
Catholic’s team opener Tuesday is a rematch of last year’s semifinals against Ensworth won by the Lady Irish, 4-1.
Catholic defeated Ensworth by a 4-1 score earlier this season with the Lady Tigers getting a win by Tess Staelin at No. 6 singles.
Thornton defeated Ensworth’s Avery Franklin 6-2, 6-4.
“I think they’re probably the third-best team in the state,” Morris said of Ensworth. “They’re a talented team. I expect a good match, but I think we’re stronger by a little bit except maybe at the end of the lineup.”
If Catholic wins, it expects another high-energy matchWednesday against Chattanooga Baylor for the Division II-AA state title. Baylor faces Memphis Hutchison in Tuesday’s other team semifinal.
The Lady Irish defeated Baylor in last year’s final 4-0, and in 2021 beat the Lady Red Raiders 4-2 in the championship.
They’ve played once this season with Catholic beating Baylor 6-1 at Tyson Park.
“They’re good. They played us a really good match here at Tyson,” Morris said of Baylor. “Helen Guerry at 1 lost the first set to Maeve 7-5, and their No.1 doubles had us down 5-1 in the pro set. We had to fight back in that one. They’re a good team.”
And they’ll be fired up at state.
Baylor doesn’t take losing lightly.
“The intensity of it is so much when you play Baylor, specifically,” Morris said. “It’s a lot of intensity. When you’re done with that match, you’re tired.”
Thornton, reigning 5Star Preps Player of the Year, plays Briarcrest sophomore Emma Huggins on Thursday at 11 a.m. CT in the Division II-AA state quarterfinals. If she wins, Thornton plays again Thursday at 3:30 CT.
Murphy and Liakonis play their state quarterfinal Thursday at 11 CT against Hutchison’s Zoe Pelts and Olivia Evans. Doubles semifinals are Thursday at 3:30 CT.
Singles and doubles finals are Friday.
Here are a few storylines to follow at state tennis (all times Central):
CASSITY GOES FOR REPEAT
Farragut junior Riley Cassity won’t need a scouting report when she begins defense of her Division I Class AA state singles title Thursday at 12:30 CT.
Cassity faces Ravenwood senior Grace Stout, whom she defeated 6-4, 7-6 (4) in last year’s state championship match.
“Riley doesn’t care,” said Farragut coach Gordon Cassity, Riley’s grandfather. “She’ll play whoever.”
Cassity overcame deficits in the second set against Stout in last year’s final.
“She was down 4-0 in the second set and got back to 6-all,” Gordon Cassity said. “She got down 3-0 in the tiebreaker and won seven of the next eight points.”
Cassity has only lost one set in the postseason – when individual play switches from pro sets to best-of-three set format – and that was to Bearden’s Ayla Houser.
Cassity earned a berth to state with a 6-3, 6-1 victory against West freshman Gray Feaster in the Region 2-AA final.
Feaster is the sister of former Webb School of Knoxville star Anna Catherine Feaster, who won four Division II-A statesingles championships (2011-14) before a college career at Davidson.
“She’s playing extremely well right now,” Gordon Cassity said of Riley. “Her coach says she’s probably playing better than she’s ever played.”
Cassity’s private coach is Derek Stultz of Cedar Bluff Racquet Club.
CAK’S BUSLOAD TO ’BORO
Christian Academy of Knoxville has a busload of players headed to Murfreesboro.
CAK’s girls return to state after falling short last year, joining the Warriors for this week’s trip.
The Lady Warriors, led by sophomore Allie Faulkner, play Lausanne in the Division II-A team semifinals Tuesday at 9 a.m.
University School of Jackson plays St. George’s in the other semifinal.
CAK’s boys, who lost to University School of Jackson 4-2 in last year’s state semifinals, face xxx
CAK’s girls defeated Webb School of Bell Buckle 4-1 on Friday in the quarterfinals, earning the trip to Murfreesboro.
The Warriors, meanwhile, advanced Saturday with a 4-0 victory over Northpoint Christian in state quarterfinals.
Faulkner, defending state singles champion, beat St. George’s Aleyla Wooten 6-2, 6-2 in last year’s championship match.
Faulkner plays Clarksville Academy freshman Anna Adams in Thursday’s singles quarterfinals.
CAK sophomores Aiden Stalcup and Larkin Bristow are in Thursday’s state quarterfinals at 11:30 against Webb School-Bell Buckle’s Sarai Clark and Alysha Hosum.
In the boys’ singles draw, CAK freshman Caleb Climer plays his quarterfinal Thursday at 9 a.m. against Jack Veazey of Jackson Christian.
The Warriors have two boys’ teams in the doubles quarterfinals.
CAK’s Sam Duzan and Jayden Torry play USJ’s Preston Miller and Jack Wilkerson, and the Warriors’ Hayden Brady and Quinn Campbell face Franklin Grace’s Jake Barton and Ryan Breland.
Winners of the 9 a.m. CT doubles matches play again Thursday at 2 p.m. with the possibility the two CAK teams face each other in the semifinals.
LECKRONE LEADS HVA RUN
Just call him the comeback kid.
Hardin Valley Academy sophomore Ryan Leckrone led the Hawks on a memorable run during the program’s 15thanniversary this season.
And he did it after having hip surgery in the offseason.
Leckrone advanced to the Class AA state quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Gavin Graham of West in the Region 2-AAsingles final.
It was Leckrone’s fourth title in 10 days as he won district and region singles titles and played No. 1 singles as the Hawks won district and region team titles.
His opening match at state is a tough one.
Leckrone will play Science Hill junior Daniel Haddadin in Thursday’s state quarterfinals at noon.
HVA beat Farragut 4-1 for the Region 2-AA team title and the team’s 18th consecutive victory, a program record, before losing to Johnson City Science Hill 4-0 in Friday’s state sectionals (quarterfinals).
The Lady Hawks also beat Farragut 4-1 in the region championship before losing to Science Hill 4-0 in Thursday’ssectionals.
CUPP-BACON DUO RETURNS
William Blount seniors John Macon and Baylor Cupp are back in the ’Boro for the Class AA doubles quarterfinals after making history a year ago as the first players in the program to reach the state tournament.
Macon and Cupp, the 5Star Preps Co-Players of the Year last season, clinched the Region 2-AA title with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Garrett Anderson and Billy Bennett of Hardin Valley Academy. They play Station Camp’s Weston Jones and Chase Etheridge in Thursday’s state quarterfinals at noon.
Last year, the William Blount duo led the Governors to their first state team sectional (quarterfinal) in program history where they lost to Science Hill.
The Govs lost to HVA during this year’s District 4-AA seasonand didn’t reach the district final.
Macon and Cupp’s doubles quarterfinal a year ago against Station Camp’s Carter Ramthun and Chase Etheridge was played in an eight-game pro-set format due to rain, and Cuppand Macon lost, 8-3.