MURFREESBORO - Baylor Girls won their sixth straight D-II AA state tennis championship Wednesday at Old Fort Park Tennis Complex
photo by Alex Hawkins
"Everything we do, conditioning, competing in tournaments such as DecoTurf and the Chattanooga Rotary points to winning the state and we did that again this year.”
-- Baylor Girls Tennis Coach Dustin Kane
MURFREESBORO - Another state tourney for the Baylor School girls and another state championship trophy.
The Red Raiders posted its second, 4-0, win in two days with a whitewash of Hutchison in today’s D-II AA final at the Old Fort Park Tennis Complex for the programs sixth straight state title and 10th overall.
The Red Raiders dominance is shown in the stat sheet as they have not lost a team point in five weeks and are 97-11 in team points won and lost for the season.
“We knew we were the prohibitive favorite coming into Spring Fling and I feel we were well prepared for the pressure of having a big bulls eye on our backs,” said Baylor coach Dustin Kane who is 95-9 in seven seasons as the Red Raider coach. “We never take anything for granted and have worked since early August for this week.
“it’s great to win DecoTurf in March and Rotary in April which are strong tournaments, but we use those events as measuring sticks on where we are at that time of the season.
"Everything we do, conditioning, competing in tournaments such as DecoTurf and the Chattanooga Rotary points to winning the state and we did that again this year.”
Baylor won the doubles point and then added singles wins by No.2 Karolina Hadaka, No.3 Presley Thomas and No.5 Ashton Jenne to secure the 4-0 victory.
Might Need a Larger Trophy Case: Baylor athletics director Thad Lepcio might consider placing a call to the school's theatre department and have the students bring out the hammer and nails to build an extension to the trophy case for the newest hardware.
Last State Finals Loss: GPS defeated Baylor, 4-3, in 2010
Most Girls Titles: Knox Webb has won 13 (won earlier today) followed by Baylor with 10, GPS 9 and Chattanooga Christian with 8.
Consecutive WIns: Knox Webb has won 7 in a row, followed by Baylor with 6 and Ravenwood with 6.
D-II AA State Finals
Baylor 4, Hutchison 0
Doubles
1 Drew Hawkins-Lauren Carelli (Bay) def. Catherine Owen-Caroline Hastings, 8-6
Karolina Hakala-Lilly Mooney (Bay) def. Anne Grinder-Eliza Sims, 8-1
Singles
2 Karolina Hakala (Bay) def. Grace Garrott, 6-, 6-0
3 Presley Thomas (Bay) Grace Ann Dunavant, 6-4, 6-3’
5 Ashton Jenne (Bay) Meggy Muller, 6-1, 6-0
** Today's Team Champions
Girls
D-II AA - Baylor . has won 6 in a row ... 10 overall
D-II A Knox Webb .. has won 7 in a row . 13 overall
D-I A-AA - Knox Catholic... also won it all in 2008 and 2014
D-I AAA - Brentwood ... beat 5-time defending state champ Ravenwood
Boys
D-II AA Baylor wins for first time in 19 years .... both teams win together first time since 1996
D-II A - USJ .. last won it in 2009 ... runner-up in 2013-14-15
D-I A-AA - Lipscomb Academy - first title since 1972 with No.1 player Gary Dunn .. who won 3 singles and 2 dbles in five years and led Lipscomb to titles in 1969-70-72 . current coach is Lynn Griffith from Chattanooga who played No.1 at Tyner graduating in 1972 ...
D-I AAA - Tenn. Hi .. 4-peat
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net