Baylor girls romp in 58th Rotary Invitational

Monday, April 7, 2014

photo Baylor tennis player McCall Morgan returns the ball during her Rotary Tennis Tournament singles division A-4 championship match against McCracken player Mesa Trimm on Saturday at Baylor School.
photo McCallie tennis player Turner Voges returns the ball during his Rotary Tennis Tournament singles division A-2 championship match against St. Xavier player Drew Singerman Saturday at Baylor School.

If there was any girls' drama going into the final day of the 58th Rotary Invitational tennis tournament Saturday, the Baylor team put that to rest fairly quickly.

The Lady Red Raiders claimed seven of the nine available championships, running away from the field and finishing with 23 points for their fourth consecutive title in the A division of the event. The A division boys' title was won by St. Xavier of Louisville, Ky., for the second straight year, with 20 points to defeat McCallie by three.

GPS finished in a three-way tie for fourth place, while the Baylor boys placed fourth, one-half point behind Montgomery Bell Academy.

Baylor's Harper Caswell, Maggie Crumbliss, McCall Morgan and Drew Hawkins claimed girls' A singles titles, and Baylor swept the three doubles finals, with Morgan and Samantha Caswell, Harper Caswell and Ashton Jenne, and Crumbliss and Hawkins taking championships.

"I thought we all played well today," Baylor coach Dustin Kane said. "It's a different format than we normally play during the year, which puts a lot of emphasis on the individual matches. If you get a bad draw, it could cost you, but we played well and prepared well to put ourselves in a position to win this today."

Baylor entered Saturday's matches holding a 3.5-point lead over McCracken (Ky.), which finished third -- one-half point behind Mountain Brook (Ala.). A win at No. 3 doubles helped the latter edge McCracken, 12 points to 11.5.

GPS's Virginia Hammond won the consolation final at No. 6 singles.

McCallie's Luke Orthner won the boys' A No. 4 singles title and teamed with Carter Eaves to win at No. 2 doubles. Teammates Conner O'Brien and Taylor Burgen won the No. 3 doubles title, while Cody Gubin won the No. 1 singles consolation.

"It was a good day for us," McCallie coach Eric Voges said. "It was a good day and a good weekend. I like where we are at this point in the year."

Huntsville High finished 27-0 in matches to win the boys' B title, while Christian Academy of Knoxville had 19 points to win in B girls. Chattanooga Christian's girls were fourth in the B division and had the champion in No. 1 singles, Hannah Henry. Signal Mountain was sixth, with Sarah Kate Bailey and Mary Wakim taking the consolation doubles title at No. 3.

Hixson's and Signal Mountain's boys tied for sixth with four points each. Hixson's Carl Phillips and Kevin Nguyen won the No. 2 doubles consolation, and Signal's Thomas Thelen and Carson Williams won at No. 3 doubles.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.