There were no rah-rah speeches by Cleveland coach Elizabeth Davis prior to Saturday’s action in the Champions Club Tennis Tournament, but her team got the hint.
The Lady Raiders, who were tied with Ooltewah after Friday, scored points in every round of the final day of competition to pull away from the Lady Owls and win the tournament for the first time ever.
Siegel won the corresponding boys’ A Division, narrowly defeating McMinn County 56-53.
In the B division, the Arts & Sciences boys and Soddy-Daisy tied for first with 17 points each, while Blackman’s girls won with 20.
Cleveland had two champions, Patten Feehrer at No. 3 singles and Gabby Earby at No. 6, and finished with 57 points.
“I didn’t really approach today with the big, ‘You’ve got to do this; you’ve got to do that,’ routine,” Davis said. “This year I’m fortunate to have girls that are responsive. They know what they have to do to take care of business on their own.”
Ooltewah had a singles champion — Jessica Crum at No. 4 — and the No. 3 doubles winners, Wendy Rogers and Krysta Watlington, and totaled 52 points.
“The girls knew what they needed to do without me specifically coming out and saying it,” Davis said. “This group works hard. I see in practice that they like to win and they want to win.”
Chattanooga Christian finished third with 48 points, and Red Bank and Arts & Sciences followed with 42 and 40. Rhea County, McMinn County and Siegel rounded out the teams with 33, 27 and 25 points.
CSAS’s Kayla Kelly won at No. 1 singles, and she and sister Ahmee won at No. 1 doubles. Red Bank’s Michelle Hawfield was victorious at No. 2 singles and teamed with Megan Long to win No. 2 doubles. Rhea’s Caylee Cochran won No. 5 singles.
The Siegel boys didn’t score in the singles draw Saturday and fell behind by a point to McMinn’s Cherokees but scored nine points in doubles to pull out the victory.
“We just talked about how every match is important,” Siegel coach Jeff Martin said. “The first doubles matches we played were worth a couple points each, and it was important to get those in. I think the guys were disappointed they were swept in singles, and I think that gave them the motivation to step up in doubles.”
Siegel’s Peter Elbaum and Brad Leeman won No. 1 doubles and James Farley and Evan Poe won at No. 3. The University School of Nashville’s Michael Stephanioes and Sathvik Reddy won No. 2 doubles.
USN scored 12 points Saturday to finish third with 45 points. Rhea was fourth with 44 points and Cleveland was fifth with 37. Ooltewah, Walker Valley and CCS were sixth through eighth with 33, 30 and 27.
Individual champions were Rhea’s Kelly Lane and Matthew Keylon, USN’s Stephanioes and Michael King and McMinn’s Fenil Patel and Brandon MacDonough.
“It’s nice to win,” Martin said. “The credit goes to the boys for putting the work in. It’s pretty exciting to see things to come into fruition like that.”
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