From left: Farragut’s Riley Cassity, CAK’s Allie Faulkner, and Catholic’s Eleni Liakonis, Lillie Murphy, and Maeve Thornton.
BY DAVE LINK
MURFREESBORO – It was celebration Friday for Knoxville-area tennis as three singles players won state championships and one doubles team clinched a state title.
Catholic senior Maeve Thornton completed her three-peat in Division II-AA state singles, defeating Hutchison junior Melanie Woodbury 6-2, 6-0 in the championship match at the Adams Tennis Complex.
Thornton, who hasn’t lost a singles or doubles match in three years, led the Lady Irish to their third consecutive Division II-AA team tile Wednesday by beating Chattanooga Baylor for the third year in a row.
She was emotional after Friday’s title match.
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“Last match, and I love this team so much,” said Thornton, a Furman signee. “It’s our last time together. Last night was our last team dinner. It’s our last team thing. It’s sad closing this chapter.”
Thornton lost just three games in three singles matches Thursday and Friday.
After her first set was tied 2-all Friday, Thornton won the next 10 games against
Woodbury.
“I played well,” Thornton said. “I was nervous at first, but I think I was just excited because of the final and I knew if I brought good intensity I’d be fine. I thought I played a complete match and just wore her down.”
Thornton will take a short break from tennis – she’s going to Puerto Rico on vacation – before getting back to the grind.
“Through the summer I’m just going to train, practice, play some tournaments, and I start at Furman in August,” Thornton said.
Also winning state singles titles Friday were Allie Faulkner of Christian Academy of Knoxville and Riley Cassity of Farragut.
Cassity, a junior, repeated as Division I-AA singles champion with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Walker Valley junior Ensley Collins.
Collins transferred from Baylor to Walker Valley for the 2022-23 school year after losing in the Division II-AA singles semifinals last year.
“It means a lot to me,” Cassity said of the singles title. “I’m so glad I’m able to be here in this position, to be able to win twice in a row now. I just think that’s really cool, and to do it with a bunch of my friends from different schools is really fun for me.”
Cassity said she started the match “a little rough” before having trouble closing out the match.
She had a 5-2 lead and match point when she missed a shot long. Collins won that game and broke Cassity’s serve, trailing 4-5.
Cassity broke Collins’ serve at 15-40 and won the match.
“I was getting nervous, and she’s good, so you can’t fault her,” Cassity said. “She played really well, so it was a mixture of that.”
After her match, Cassity joined her Knoxville friends who also won state titles Friday.
“We’ve known each other for years and hit together for years,” Cassity said, “so I’m really good friends with all of them and I’m happy I could do this with them.”
Faulkner, a sophomore, defended her Division II-A state singles championship by defeating Franklin Road Academy sophomore Shelby Franklin 6-1, 6-0 in the finals.
“I feel like I played really well,” Faulkner said. “I was a little nervous at the beginning, but once I calmed down and got my nerves under control, I started playing my game.”
Faulkner faced a tougher challenge in Thursday’s semifinals, defeating University School of Jackson junior Brilee Davis 6-1, 6-4.
Davis had a 4-2 lead in the second set.
“That was a very huge match,” Faulkner said. “I played I guess the second-highest rated girl in the tournament in my semifinals, and it was a very cheer-intensive and very close match the first set. Almost every game went to deuce but they almost all went my way. It was a big one for me.”
Faulkner felt some pressure entering the tournament. But she has now won three consecutive Division II-A singles championships, dating back to 2021 when she won it as an eighth-grader. She has never dropped a set playing high school tennis, neither in regular season nor postseason play.
“I was very nervous going in, feeling like I had to win,” Faulkner said. “But once I got here the nerves settled in and I was able to really enjoy playing in this tournament. It was a great experience to feel again.”
Also repeating as state champions were Catholic’s doubles team of junior Eleni Liakonis and sophomore Lillie Murphy.
They defeated Baylor’s Sloane Proffitt and Gabby Czarnecki 6-1, 6-2 in the championship match. Liakonis and Murphy lost only six games in their three doubles matches Thursday and Friday.
William Blount seniors Baylor Cupp and John Macon lost in the championship match in their return to the Division I-AA doubles tournament, falling to Collierville seniors Anjay Arul and Carter Amaba, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.
Cupp and Macon reached the state tournament last season, a first in program history, and lost in the quarterfinals.