After dropping a singles match that took well over three hours Thursday evening in a Class A/AA sectional against Boyd-Buchanan, Notre Dame's Sarah Joyce was frustrated. She walked off the court, put her bag down and went to a nearby restroom to cool off and compose her thoughts.
"I had a couple of set points in the first set that I lost," said Joyce, who lost that first set to Katie Delay 10-8 in the tiebreaker. "I'm the team leader, though. I can't show too much emotion. ... I wanted to give off positive vibes."
Once she got back on the court, those vibes were well-received.
Joyce teamed with Sarah Faith Ingell to defeat Delay and MaKenna Thomas 8-0 in the No. 1 doubles match, sealing the Lady Irish's 4-2 win and one of the four spots in next week's Spring Fling tournament in Murfreesboro.
They will face Lipscomb Academy at 4 p.m. EDT Tuesday at Old Fort State Park.
Mary Margaret Haywood, Jessica Moore and Bowie Strozak accounted for the singles wins for the Lady Irish. Delay and Thomas had Boyd-Buchanan's two wins, with Delay's 7-6 (10-8), 0-6, 7-5 win over Joyce forcing doubles to be played.
Joyce and Ingell put the match away.
"I don't think they missed," Notre Dame coach Nancy Fox said. "They were on fire."
Said Joyce: "We knew their No. 1 doubles was good. I told Sarah Faith that she was going to have to carry us. I was so tired."
It's the fourth consecutive season that Joyce will be advancing to state in some capacity, but the first time she'll be going in both singles and doubles. She was a freshman on the 2012 team that won the state tournament and a junior last year when the Lady Irish lost in the finals.
She advanced as an individual in doubles in 2013 with her sister Katie.
"I'm really excited that we're going to be going there as a team," she said.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.