Maddox Bandy of GPS has a national championship with her mother and coach Meg Bandy and now a state doubles title with Jenna Thorstensen.
The Bruisers duo rallied to defeat Baylor’s Lilly Mooney-Lauren Carelli, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to win the TSSAA D-II AA championship in the final day of Spring Fling XXII.
“After we lost that first set we knew we had to calm down and we would be fine,” said Bandy.
“We get along real well, have the exact same personality and know each other’s game so well,” Thorstensen stated.
“We know if we put our heads together and focus no one can beat us.”
Asked about the difference between a state and national championships Bandy said, “today we were playing for our school which is so important and when my mother and I were competing in the mother-daughter clay court nationals, it was more for ourselves seeking a USTA national title.”
A Bad Omen??:A TSSAA official accidently posted Mooney and Carelli as doubles winners at 6-2, 6-0 on the big display brackets while the D-II match was still in progress. The official mistakenly took the score (6-2 6-0) from the D-I AA girls doubles match with Christian Academy of Knoxville who defeated Boyd Buchanan and posted it on the D-II AA bracket.
The correct team and score was changed soon after GPS won.
Five In D-II AA singles, Baylor sophomore Drew Hawkins didn’t lose a set in three matches, including a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Mackenzie Philips of Brentwood Academy. Baylor has claimed singles titles four out of the past five years; Hawkins (2015), Samantha Caswell (2012-13) and Sonja Brkovic (2011).
D-II AA Boys Doubles: In what was an excellent college-level match, Spencer Richey and Michael Apple of Memphis University School needed three sets to defeat Baylor’s Jack Gray and Chad Woodham, 6-4, 6-7 (11-9), 6-3 for their third straight state crown.
Gray and Woodham faced four match points in the second set tiebreaker beginning at 3-6, evened it at 6-6 and 9-9 before winning, 11-9.
“We just kept fighting in that tiebreaker when we were down all those match points,” said Woodham.
Prior to the tie-breaker, the Baylor duo had four set points at 6-5, 40-0, but MUS won four straight points to force the tie-breaker.
In the third set, MUS gained two breaks and held serve to go up 3-0, but Baylor battled back to gain two breaks themselves and even it at 3-3.
But MUS broke the Red Raiders in the all-important seventh game for a 4-3 lead followed by holding serve and gained a fourth break of the set to close it out at 6-3.
D-II AA Boys Singles: MBA’s George Harwell defeated McCallie’s Cody Gubin, 6-3, 6-4. Harwell is the first MBA state singles champion since Bill Cherry won three in 1986-87-89.
D-I A-AA Girls Doubles: Allison Ivey-Elise DeNicola of Christian Academy of Knoxville defeated Katie DeLay-Makenna Thomas of Boyd Buchanan, 6-2, 6-0. DeLay reached the state semis in singles in 2014.
D-I A-AA Boys’ Singles: Jacob Lorino (Knox. Catholic) defeated Hixson’s Alex Condra, 6-3, 6-0.
“I was not expecting to do this well (reach the finals) in the tournament so to play for the championship was great,” said Condra who beat 2014 singles semifinalist Dalton Young in this year’s first round followed by a 6-1, 6-4 triumph against Isaiah Polk (Page HS).
2015 Spring Fling Tennis Singles and Doubles
Singles:
D-I A-AA Boys: Jacob Lorino (Knox. Catholic) def. Alex Condra (Hixson), 6-3, 6-0
D-I A-AA Girls: Danielle Vines (Elizabethton) def. Skylar McDonald (Fayetteville), 6-2, 6-1
D-I AAA Boys: Steven Karl (Brentwood HS) def. Andrew Morton (Science Hill), 6-3, 6-1
D-I AAA Girls: Somer Henry (Brentwood H.S.) def. Josie Rogers (Dobyns-Bennett), 3-6, 6-2, 6-0
D-II A Boys: Lorenzo Rollhauser (Knox. Webb) def. Will Johnston (Univ. School of Nashville), 6-1, 6-2
D-II A Girls: Claire Sullivan (St. George’s) def. Francesca Eluhu (Univ. School of Nashville), 6-0, 6-4
D-II AA Boys: George Harwell (MBA) def. Cody Gubin (McCallie) 6-3, 6-4
D-II AA Girls: Drew Hawkins (Baylor) def. Mackenzie Philips (Brentwood Acad.), 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
D-I A-AA Boys: Matt Holloway-Mitchell Jostes (Knox. Catholic) def. Will Reeves-Thomas Goodwyn (Middle Tenn. Christian), 6-4, 6-1
D-I A-AA Girls: Allison Ivey-Elise DeNicola (Christian Academy of Knoxville) def. Katie DeLay-Makenna Thomas (Boyd-Buchanan), 6-2, 6-0
D-I AAA Boys: Matt Henson-Jacob Marshall (Tenn. Hi) def. Aubrey Davis-Matthew Maynard (Knox West), 6-1, 6-3
D-I AAA Girls: Kena Jones-Mallissa Sirimourngkhons (White Station) def. Julia Adams-Brittany Foust (Knox Bearden), 6-0, 7-6
D-II A Boys: Cade Reason-George Markos (Univ. School of Jackson) def. Rajeev Jadhav (Knox. Webb), 6-4, 6-2
D-II A Girls: Carmen Saab-Mary Jane McCaghren (St. Mary’s) def. Diana Grandas-Anna Wisniewski (Knox, Webb), 6-4, 7-5
D-II AA Boys: Michael Apple-Spencer Richey (MUS) def. Jack Gray-Chad Woodham (Baylor), 6-4, 6-7 (11-9), 6-3
D-II AA Girls: Maddox Bandy-Jenna Thorstensen (GPS) def. Lilly Mooney-Lauren Carelli (Baylor)
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net