Baylor School Girls Win DecoTurf A Division Title
photo by Diana Stevenson Photography
Spatanburg (S.C.) HS won the Boys A Division Title
photo by Diana Stevenson Photgraphy
Mary Margaret Haywood and Sarah Faith Ingell of Notre Dame.
Defending high school state champs Baylor girls (D-II AA) and Notre Dame girls (D-I A/AA) showed they are the favorites to win again in Tennessee this year as both schools won its respective divisions of the 2016 DecoTurf High School Tennis Championship Saturday.
Baylor Wins Girls A: Seeded second, Baylor was 4-0 in the award-winning event and lost only three individual matches on the weekend and defeated No.4 seed Etowah (Ga.), 7-2 in the finals.
“We are very excited about winning this tournament again,” said Baylor girls coach Dustin Kane.
“Our depth is the key to our team as this is the most depth I have had in my seven years as the Baylor coach.”
The Red Raiders also won this event in 2011, 2012 and 2013 were runners-up in 2014 and fourth a year ago.
Baylor’s Drew Hawkins was selected as the most valuable player in the Girls’ A Division and the Red Raiders No.1 doubles team of Hawkins and Lauren Cavelli were all-tournament.
Notre Dame Wins Girls C: The Irish are also strong top to bottom as they defeated Assumption and Tennessee High by identical 5-4 scores and Siegel,9-0, in a round robin format.
“The girls dug down deep and determined they didn’t want to lose,” said Notre Dame coach Nancy Fox.
“This is a great tournament with excellent competition and we can learn from this experience.”
Notre Dame No.1 singles player Sarah Faith Ingell was the Girls C Division most valuable player and she and doubles partner Mary Margaret Haywood earned all-tournament honors.
Team Champions
Boys A: Spartanburg (S.C.)
Boys B: Starr's Mill (Ga.)
Boys C: George Washington (W.Va.)
Girls A: Baylor
Girls B Milton (Ga.)
Girls C: Notre Dame
Kudos: Tournament founder and director Brandon Feusner did his usual excellent job along with many local volunteers from the Chattanooga Tennis Association as the tournament was played at Champions Club, Baylor, McCallie, GPS and Brainerd.
Award Winners: The DecoTurf tournament received the Tennessee Tennis Association award for tournament of the year from 2015 and also took home the USTA Southern Junior Tournament of the Year award. The CTA earned organization of the year award for Tennessee.
“From where this tournament started to winning two prestigious awards in the same year is impressive for us,” said Brandon Feusner with a smile. “We have been able to attract strong teams from several states each year which makes the tournament great and competitive at each level.”
contact B.B Branton at william.branton@comcast.net