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
MURFREESBORO – There’s a new sheriff in town.
Catholic’s girls clinched their second consecutive Division II-AA state tennis championship Wednesday afternoon by defeating Chattanooga Baylor 4-0 on the indoor courts at the Adams Tennis Complex.
The Lady Irish also defeated Baylor in last year’s state championship match, ending the Lady Red Raiders’ run of nine consecutive state titles in Division II-AA.
Catholic is playing its second year in Division II-AA.
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“It’s really big for us because we were new to this division last year and to repeat in the second year in this division is huge for us,” Catholic coach Rusty Morris said. “Such great schools, such great coaches in this division that it’s such an honor to be able to do that two times. Even to get to the state championship two times against that talent is great.
“But it meant a lot to us to have that opportunity again and to achieve it. We knew that Baylor isn’t used to losing and they were ready to win today. Baylor wanted to win badly, and we knew that. I’m glad we were up to that task of winning.”
Junior Maeve Thornton clinched the match at No. 1 singles with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Agda Laasko. Thornton also played Court 1 last year when Catholic won state and won the Division II-AA individual singles title.
Thornton knew winning the Division II-AA team title consecutive years was going to be difficult.
“It’s amazing. It just shows how much the program is developing and growing,” Thornton said. “I think these girls, we’ve just gotten so close as a team and learned how to compete with each other. It’s great for the school.”
Thornton wanted to close out the match quickly.
“I felt pressure since the doubles because it’s a huge match,” Thornton said. “I feel like that last game, I knew I had to close it out there because all of our other matches weren’t that far along, and so I just took a deep breath and swung at the ball.”
In the Division II-AA format, the three doubles matches are played before singles, and Catholic clinched the doubles point by winning two out of the three matches.
Thornton and junior Gigi Sompayrac defeated Laasko and Gabby Czarnecki 8-6 at Court 1, and Lilli Murphy and Eleni Liakonis won the doubles point with an 8-3 win over Helen Guerry and Margarette Berdy at Court 2.
“We knew (winning doubles) was crucial for us because our 1, 2 and 3 singles girls, I don’t think they’ve lost all year,” Morris said. “We knew if we only needed to win three singles matches, we were going to do that, so if we got the doubles point, it was huge. Baylor plays such a tough brand of doubles with being very active at the net and they’re very good at it. We knew it was going to be a challenge and I’m glad the girls were up to it.”
Murphy, a freshman, and Liakonis, a sophomore, came up big with singles wins.
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).
Murphy gave the Irish a 2-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Guerry at Court 2, and Liakonis beat Berdy 6-4, 6-3 for a 3-0 lead.
That left Thornton in charge of winning it again with Sompayrac still on Court 4.
Sompayrac lost the first set to Ensley Collins 6-7 but was rallying with a 5-2 lead in the second set when Thornton’s win finished the match.
“Eleni stepped to the plate last,” Morris said. “She played 2 last and made it to the semis of the individuals, so she’s tried and true. But Lillie, being a freshman and jumping in there and under that pressure and handling it was great.
“Our young players, Eleni and Lillie, were tremendous, and Maeve being the leader, she’s the true leader, encourages everyone. And we love seeing Gigi out there battling. She wasn’t giving up. It’s big in momentum to not give up a court because that can swing momentum.”
Morris said the Lady Irish have the intangibles it takes to win team tennis.
“They’re a close group of girls and they work hard together,” he said. “Maeve leads by example because she’s kind to everyone and she helps everyone through tough matches. Her leadership makes the team really bond well.”
HIGHLANDERS LOSE FINAL, 4-0
The Gatlinburg-Pittman boys tennis team finished state runner-up in Class A on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Photo by Charles Mays Media)
Gatlinburg-Pittman’s boys advanced to the Class A state tennis championship for the first time in school history but lost to defending state champion Merrol Hyde Magnet of Hendersonville in Wednesday morning’s final 4-0.
The match was played outdoors before heavy rains moved play indoors.
“At the beginning of the year, I thought we had a chance,” G-P coach Alexis Barrett said. “We had some really good talent last year so I thought we had a chance to get here with our senior boys that were coming up. They put in the work and they did it. I knew there were a couple of key matches we had to win (to get to state) and they did that. This was their goal and they got here.”
Senior Preston Johns, G-P’s No. 1 singles player and a Belmont-Abbey signee, played with a broken bone in his foot sustained about a week ago at the prom.
“A bunch of buddies were jumping around during prom,” Johns said, “and I fell on somebody’s foot and rolled my ankle completely and broke the top of my foot.”
Regardless, Johns was determined to play in Murfreesboro.
“Right when I did it, everything went through my mind about tennis,” Johns said. “I was like, ‘I don’t care, I’m just gonna wrap it as tight as I can and play on it.’ I knew what was coming up, so I just decided to play through it.”
Merrol Hyde took a quick 3-0 lead in singles.
Gatlinburg-Pittman finished Class A state boys runner-up in tennis on Wednesday, May 25, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Photo by Charles Mays Media)
Grant Koch was first off the courts, defeating senior Justin McCarty 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.
No. 4 John Wilkes gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead with a 6-0 6-2 victory over Will Huskey.
At No. 5, Declan Cleary posted a 6-3, 6-2 victory over John Tate for a 3-0 lead, leaving only Johns and No. 3 Tyler Floodquist as the only Highlanders capable of extending the match.
And Johns was having his troubles at No. 1 singles against Tobias Mandeville.
After losing the first set 3-6, Johns had a 2-1 lead in the second set when he called for a medical timeout for treatment on his foot.
Trailing 3-2 in the third, Johns called for another medical timeout for cramping issues in his leg.
When play resumed, Johns hit some underhanded serves and ran gingerly on his leg.
Mandeville was able to hold off Johns and end the match with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
“I’ve been trying to wrap (the foot) as much as I can and just play on it and try to play through it,” Johns said. “It kind of hurt me today a little bit but I just kept on trying to push through and do what I could with it.”
Wednesday’s loss didn’t detract from the Highlanders’ run to the championship match.
It’s an honor, it really is,” Johns said. “For such a small community, we’ve been through a lot. For us to step up and get to a state final, that was what our goal was at the start of the year. We knew we had the capability of doing it. We just worked as hard as we could and we made it. We were a little disappointed at the end but overall I think we did pretty good and I’m pretty proud of us.”
Johns and McCarty were runners-up in the state doubles last year to Merrol Hyde’s Joshua and Joseph Rodriguez, who were seniors last year. The G-P doubles duo are in the draw again this year, starting Thursday.