posted May 22, 2008
) Photo by photos.mccallie.org The Blue Tornado Tennis Team made it a three-peat in Murfreesboro Wednesday. |
St. Andrew’s-Sewanee, Chattanooga Christian, GPS and McCallie each won state team titles at MTSU Wednesday at the 15th BlueCross Spring Fling.
The SAS girls struck first to claim the school's first state team title in any sport with a 4-1 triumph against University School of Nashville. A few minutes later, the CCS girls made it a four-peat with a come-from-behind, 4-3 win against Christian Academy of Knoxville.
A couple of hours later, it was the GPS Bruisers who earned their three-peat with a hard-earned 4-1 win against stubborn Hutchison from Memphis.
McCallie, also with a trifecta, closed out the day in style shortly before dinner with a tougher-than-anticipated (at least to the average observer) 4-2 victory against long-time rival Memphis University School.
Division II Class A Girls: The third time was the charm for the SAS girls, who avenged two earlier losses to USN (13-2) and finished the season with seven straight wins and a 10-2 win-loss mark. SAS has climbed the mountain in small school prep tennis and is now the talk of Sewanee and the rest of the Cumberland Plateau.
The Lady Mountain Lions used singles wins from Sadie Shackelford (No. 1), her older sister, Avery, (No. 2), Marie Bowi (No. 5) and the three-set, rallying clincher from Friderike Greiwe at No. 3.
From A (Avery) to Z (No. 4 Zoe Petropoulas), it was a team effort to win the championship.
"Before the match we talked about fighting for every point and not giving them (USN) a chance to get in the match," said SAS first year coach Kelley Jones Black. "And I think that is exactly what we did today."
Closing It Out: Sewanee was up 2-1 before Avery Shackelford closed out her straight set win with a service ace, followed by Greiwe's three-set win.
Exams & Tennis: Some SAS players hurried back to campus for afternoon exams after winning the state title. Exams on Thursday and Friday for the Shackelford girls could be pushed to Saturday as they both compete in Thursday's state singles quarterfinals at MTSU. A 9 a.m. first round win by both would set up a Shackelford-Shackelford semis match at 2 p.m. Finals are Friday at 9 a.m.
Going Out In Style. Retiring SAS Head of School Father William S. Wade might consider displaying the state championship trophy during graduation ceremonies on Sunday.
Tribute to Coach Dean: Patrick Dean, SAS faculty member and tennis coach prior to this season, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year (currently in remission), and still works on campus, but has taken a leave of absence from coaching and teaching. Mrs. Black was appointed as head coach shortly before the season opener on Feb. 28.
Ahead of the Curve: Far from a novice in terms of Sewanee tennis history, Black, a 1991 University of the South graduate, played for Sewanee women's coach Conchie Shackelford on the school's 1990 hall of fame team which placed fourth at the NCAA tournament. "I have known John and Conchie's daughters (Sadie and Avery) since they were young girls, so I was familiar with their tennis talents before taking over as coach."
Division I A/AA Girls: Chattanooga Christian School tennis coach evidently enjoys gathering championship hardware in groups of four, as the CCS girls claimed their fourth straight TSSAA state girls tennis trophy.
Webb also coached the CCS girls to a four-peat (1999-00-01-02) and the boys' squad to its own four-peat (2002-03-04-05).
The Chargers, who trailed CAK, 3-2, after singles, had to rally to attain the 2008 crown, with wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles.
"We worked hard on doubles in practice throughout the season and it paid off today," said Webb.
CCS evened the match against CAK (16-2) at 3-3 with an 8-2 win by No. 1 doubles Ashlyn Bolton-Claire Henley, followed with the clinching point from No. 2 team of Gretchen Rowe-Holly Scholl, also at 8-2.
12 in a Row: CCS girls have won 12 straight playoff matches (region, semis and finals) in the past four years ... Bolton was a starter as an eighth-grader in 2004 when CCS suffered its last loss in post-season play; a 4-2 setback to University School of Jackson in the 2004 state semis.
Charger Notes: Of the five players on the court today, four were seniors ... The lone underclassman was ninth-grader Gretchen Rowe ... "It is sad to see these seniors go as this is one of our strongest teams," said coach Webb. "2009 will definitely be a re-building year, but we have some good talented underclassmen returning."
Division II AA Girls: GPS and Hutchison were next on the court and the Bruisers clinched their third straight title in singles, 4-1.
Clair Bartlett and Sarah Evans posted straight set wins at Nos. 1 & 2 singles, respectively, while Anne Elizabeth Holley won a three-setter at No. 4. Caroline Orr won at No. 3 for Hutchison.
GPS needed a win from Meredith Morrow at No. 5 to clinch the win in singles. Morrow, won the opening set, 6-4, but Cary Cowart steadied herself to win 10 of the next 12 games to lead 4-1 in the third.
Morrow turned the tide by winning the last five games and then was mobbed by her teammates to celebrate the championship.
"We played well today and I knew that Hutchison would give us a battle," said a smiling GPS head coach Sue Bartlett.
Tradition: GPS has a girls' record, nine state titles ... and is the only girls' team to win championships in four decades; 1971-73-74-82-85-98-06-07-08 .... On the boys side, MUS has won titles in five decades.
Losing Two: Of the top five players, Claire Bartlett and Cady Jones (No. 3) graduate.
Division II AA Boys: It was the perfect shot to complete a perfect season.
McCallie senior J.P. McLemore's two-handed, back hand top spin lob bounced safely inside the baseline on match point beyond the reach of his MUS opponent Cliff Guyton in a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2 win and McCallie had its third straight tennis state championship.
Arguably the best tennis team in school history, the 2008 edition of Blue and White tennis is 15-0, claimed the Chattanooga Rotary and the Fred Carter Invitational in Nashville and defeated the TSSAA D-I AAA champion Science Hill (9-0) and the D-I A/AA semifinalist Chattanooga Christian (8-1).
Yet, MUS wasn't intimidated by the pomp and circumstance surrounding the stainless Tornado record and pulled within one at 3-2 (after being down, 3--0) before McLemore closed the door.
McCallie quickly led 3-0 with straight set wins from junior Thomas Fanjoy (No. 5) who was first of the court, followed by senior Wes Nelson (No. 2) and junior Chris Schlabach (No. 4).
MUS won the senior battle at No. 1 as Watson George defeated David Henry, 6-3, 6-2.
With the McLemore-Guyton match was in the second set, the MUS team of George and Will Carter showed why they are defending state doubles champs with an 8-4 triumph against Nelson-Schlabach (who had beaten the MUS team, 8-5, in the Fred Carter Invite finals).
"MUS has been to the state finals many times and I knew this would be a tough match," said Voges. "For awhile it was almost too tough."
For McLemore and Guyton, the third set opened with neither player holding serve in the first four games.
McLemore had the first hold of serve in the fifth game with a winner at the net for a 3-2 lead. He then ran the table, breaking Guyton twice more for the win.
"I could sense he was getting tired in the third set and winning that last point was great," said McLemore.
The Numbers Are Staggering: McCallie lost only two individual matches in a single team match only once (today), has lost a total of eight individual matches throughout the season and has dropped only 16 sets.
"We have had a remarkable season and the numbers we posted are incredible," said McCallie coach Eric Voges. "Our strength is our experience (three seniors) along with great depth."
Last Time: The last time a McCallie team posted a perfect record, won the Chattanooga Rotary and the state was in 1977 ... the same year that a three-time state singles champ from Red Bank named Susan Hill was hitting forehand winners, a power hitter named Harley Woody was crushing long home runs for baseball state champion Lookout Valley and an 8th grader on the McCallie B-team would win the TSSAA state doubles crown in 1981. His name? ... current McCallie coach Eric Voges.
Perfect Seasons (7): McCallie has posted seven perfect seasons; 1922-43-44-49-76-77-08 … State Champs (8): 1932 (non-TSSAA title)-76-77-91-94-06-07-08 ...
McCallie Tennis Funeral: The funeral service for 1955 McCallie graduate and longtime McCallie tennis fan, Bud Burns (who died Monday at age 71), was at 5 p.m. Eastern time in Chattanooga ... McLemore’s winning shot came just moments before the service was scheduled to begin ... Bud was the father of former McCallie netter, Lee Burns (’87) and the son of Major A.L. Burns (former dean of students), who coached McCallie to its first state title in 1932.
D-I AAA Boys: Science Hill (16-1) is the team of the decade among AAA schools with its 4-0 defeat of previously unbeaten McMinn County (17-1) in the finals.
"We have had a great year and everyone returns for 2009," said Science Hill coach Pete Zannis.
Science Hill has three titles (2002-07-08) in the past seven years, while Bearden (2000-01) and Dobyns Bennett (2003-04) have two each. The Hilltoppers last loss to a public school was in the 2006 state semis to eventual winner, Seigel. Science Hill is 29-2 since then with losses to Knoxville Webb (2007) and McCallie (2008).
"Science Hill is real strong and was too much for us today," said McMinn County coach Susan Ray. "Yet we had a great year and the guys should be proud of their accomplishments."
Captive Audience: Coach Ray might suggest to team member and co-valedictorian Michael Hewgley to mention the great tennis season in his speech at Saturday's graduation and have the state runner-up trophy on display.
WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS
Chattanooga Christian 4, Christian Academy of Knoxville 3
Singles: Ashlyn Bolton (Chatt. Chr.) def. Sarah Hamilton (CAK) 5-7, 6-2, 6-0; Holly Scholl (Chatt. Chr.) def. Kia Batiste (CAK) 6-1, 6-0; Kathleen Burg (CAK) def. Claire Henley (Chatt. Chr.) 7-5, 6-3; Ruthie Edmunds (CAK) def. Gretchen Rowe (Chatt. Chr.) 6-1, 6-4; Brooke Griffith (CAK) def. Stephanie Sizemore (Chatt. Chr.) 6-0, 2-6, 7-5.
Doubles: Ashlyn Bolton/Claire Henley (Chatt. Chr.) def. Sarah Hamilton/Ruthie Edmunds (CAK) 8-2; Holly Scholl/Gretchen Rowe (Chatt. Chr.) def. Kia Batiste/Kathleen Burg (CAK) 8-2.
St. Andrew's-Sewanee 4, University School of Nashville 1
Singles: Sadie Shackelford (SAS) def. Jillian Berkman (USN) 6-0, 6-1; Avery Shackelford (SAS) def. Sunny Willoughby (USN) 6-3, 7-6 (6); Friderike Greiwe (SAS) def. Robin Shaffer (USN) 1-6, 6-4, 6-1; Caroline Awh (USN) def. Zoe Petropoulas (USN) 6-1, 4-6, 6-0; Marie Bowi (SAS) def. Olivia Douchin (USN) 6-4, 6-0.
Girls Preparatory School 4, Hutchison 1
Singles: Claire Bartlett (GPS) def. Haly Humphreys (Hutchison) 6-0, 6-3; Sarah Evans (GPS) def. Maggie Doneghue (Hutchison) 6-2, 6-1; Caroline Orr (Hutchison) def. Cady Jones (GPS) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Ann Holley (GPS) def. Lee Leavell (Hutchison) 1-6, 6-1, 6-3; Meredith Morrow (GPS) def. Cary Cowart (Hutchison) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
McCallie 4, Memphis University School 2
Singles: Watson George (MUS) def. David Henry (Mc) 6-3, 6-2; Wes Nelson (Mc) def. Will Carter (MUS) 6-1, 6-0; J.P. McLemore (Mc) def. Cliff Guyton (MUS) 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2; Chris Schlabach (Mc) def. Will Carruthers (MUS) 6-2, 6-2; Thomas Fanjoy (Mc) def. Grant Hopkins (MUS) 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles: Watson George/Will Carter (MUS) def. Wes Nelson/Chris Schlabach (Mc) 8-4.
Science Hill 4, McMinn County 0
Singles: Chris Smith (SH) def. Michael Hewgle (MC) 6-4, 6-3; John Storie (TN) George Pannell (MC) 6-1, 6-4; Michael Chen (TN) def. Trey Royal (MC) 6-0, 6-0; Jordan Eddy (SH) def. Ram Patel (MC) 6-2, 6-1.
Contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net
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