BY DAVE LINK
The Chattanooga Baylor girls’ tennis team arrived at Tyson Park on Tuesday thinking upset against Catholic, which has been ranked No. 1 in the nation by Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) since last fall.
Maeve Thornton and the Lady Irish had other thoughts.
Thornton and Gigi Sompayrac rallied for an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles, igniting the Lady Irish to a 6-1 victory over Baylor.
Catholic’s two seniors trailed 1-5 in the pro set.
Both will play Division I tennis starting in the fall, Thornton at Furman University and Sompayrac at Anderson University.
Thornton, a five-star recruit and reigning 5Star Preps Player of the year, is the two-time defending state singles champion in Division II-AA; the Lady Irish have won the state team title the past two years.
“They were just missing shots early because they were nervous,” Catholic coach Rusty Morris said of Tuesday’s doubles. “Maeve, being who she is, mentally is not going to quit. She just kind of turned it around mentally and stopped missing shots and started taking over the match.”
It was crucial in the team victory for Catholic.
In the Division II-AA format, one point is awarded to the team winning two of the three doubles matches, and Catholic and Baylor split Tuesday’s doubles on Courts 2 and 3.
Morris knew the Lady Irish would have an advantage if they took the doubles point.
“It’s huge in that format,” Morris said, “because then all you’ve got to do is win three singles matches, which puts everyone a little more at ease, especially with our 1, 2 and 3, you kind of feel like they’re going to be hard to stop in singles.”
Which proved to be the case.
Catholic won five of six singles matches – Courts 1 through 5 – starting with Thornton’s 7-5 6-1 victory over Helen Guerry at 1.
“Maeve struggled a little bit in the singles,” Morris said. “Helen Guerry played outstanding. Maeve picked up her game again after the first set.”
The Lady Irish also got straight-set wins by Lillie Murphy at Court 2, Eleni Liakonis at 3, Sompayrac at 4, and Payton Carroll at 5.
The closest singles match was between Carroll – a transfer from Utah – and Claudia Finley with Carroll winning 6-2, 7-5.
“It was pretty tight, probably tighter than it should have been, but Baylor played really well,” Morris said.
Morris said contributing factors were pressure of the national ranking and some player fatigue.
“I could see (Tuesday) we’re not the new kid on the block anymore,” Morris said. “We definitely felt more pressure than we have, and I could see that (Tuesday), but also, three of our girls (Thornton, Murphy, and Liakonis) played a big tournament over the weekend, so they were tired. It helps prepare them, but it also makes them fatigued.”
While the Lady Irish were fending off Baylor, Catholic’s boys were on the losing end of a 5-2 match against the Red Raiders.
Catholic got singles wins by Theo Liakonis at No. 1 and by Ben Snyder at No. 4.
Liakonis defeated Punch Sakulrongfa 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7), and Snyder beat Perm Ohavarog 5-7, 6-0, 1-0 (10-4).
The Irish have played all but one match without their No. 1 player, Carson Gompert, who has a wrist injury and is out for the season.
Gompert played in Catholic’s Division II-AA East Region match against Chattanooga Christian School, which the Irish won 7-0.
“It was hurting him then,” Morris said, “but he was getting more results to find out what to do about it, and that’s what they found out.”
Catholic will play rival Webb School of Knoxville next Tuesday (April 25) in a region match.
It’s a pivotal match for both boys’ teams as they seek a top-three region finish and postseason berth.
The Irish lost by a 7-0 score to Chattanooga McCallie – ranked No. 1 in the nation by UTR – and need to beat Webb to secure a postseason bid.
“It will be harder without Carson, but Theo had a big win yesterday (against Baylor) at 1, and Ben Snyder beat Baylor’s 4 guy,” Morris said.
Webb’s boys will finish the regular season next Thursday (April 27) against Johnson City Science Hill.
Catholic’s girls have two more region matches – against Webb next Tuesday and against Girls Preparatory School of Chattanooga on May 2.
Both Catholic teams also posted big finishes at the Rotary Tournament in Chattanooga.
The Lady Irish repeated as champions in the ‘A’ Division, while the Irish were runners-up in the ‘B’ Division behind Science Hill.
Catholic’s girls won 25 out of 27 possible points with its top five players winning their respective flights.
The Irish, meanwhile, managed their runner-up finish shorthanded.
“It was close between the two of us (Catholic and Science Hill),” Morris said, “but without Carson, they won’t let you move your whole lineup up, so you have to put your 7 in at 1, and you have to put your 6 at 1 doubles. We were playing that spot without really having much of a chance and still got second.”
Liakonis won the No. 2 singles and Andrew Dreiser won at 4. Runner-up finishes for Catholic were Snyder at 3 and Jacob Borja at 5.
Dreiser and Snyder won the 2 doubles flight.
HAWKS’ BIG WEEK
Hardin Valley Academy’s boys had a monster week during the program’s 15th anniversary season.
The Hawks finished second among 12 teams in the 12th annual Oakland Invitational last weekend in Murfreesboro behind only Greenwood (Ky.) High.
Collierville was third, Lincoln County fourth, and East Hamilton fifth.
“I have such a young team, I wanted them to get to play in a great event against teams from all over,” HVA coach Seth Rayman said. “I was so proud of the way they did at Oakland, playing against older kids.”
It prepared HVA for a record-breaking week.
The Hawks defeated Bearden 6-3 on Tuesday, running their District 4-AA record to 7-0.
HVA (14-1) beat West 6-3 Wednesday and won its 14th consecutive match, a program record.
The Hawks’ only loss this season was to Webb 6-1 in the season opener.
In the Oakland Invitational, sophomore Lucas Wilson won the No. 3 singles flight and freshman Billy Bennett won No. 4 singles.
Bennett and fellow freshman Garrett Anderson clinched the No. 2 doubles.
The Hawks finished runners-up in three other events: Wilson and sophomore Ryan Leckrone at 1 doubles, Anderson at 2 singles, and junior Cael Chakales at 6 singles.
Lecrone posted a 3-1 record at No. 1 singles and won the consolation draw.
Chakales and senior Marc Schulte were third in No. 3 doubles.
LADY ADS ON A ROLL
Riley Cassity and the Farragut Lady Admirals are rolling this season.
The Lady Admirals are 9-1 this season – their only loss was to Webb by a 5-4 score – while Cassity is 10-1 with a loss to Allie Faulkner of Christian Academy of Knoxville.
Cassity won the Class AA state singles championship last season and Faulkner won the Division II-A state singles title.
Farragut’s boys are 7-2 overall and 7-1 in the district with a 5-4 district loss to Hardin Valley Academy.
Farragut will play host to Bearden next Friday (April 29) in a rivalry match at McFee Park in Farragut.
The District 4-AA team championship will be May 8 or 9, and the district individual tournaments for singles and doubles will be May 4-6.