STATE TENNIS SCHEDULE
Tuesday, May 24(All Times Eastern)Baylor girls vs. Harpeth Hall, 10 a.m.GPS vs. Hutchison, 10 a.m.Baylor v McCallie, noonNotre Dame girls vs. Knoxville Catholic, 2East Hamilton girls vs. Houston, 2Notre Dame boys vs. Christian Academy of Knoxville, 4
The potential for the unexpected to happen is part of what makes sports exciting.
But as has been the case for the past decade, if you need something to feel confident about when it comes to high school sports, it's that there will be some area representation in the TSSAA's Division II-AA girls' tennis state final.
Baylor and GPS have won nine of the past 10 team titles, and each will begin this year's Spring Fling with hopes of adding another championship. The tournament starts Tuesday at 10 a.m. Eastern at Old Fort Park in Murfreesboro.
The pair are among seven area teams competing for state titles this week, a group that includes Baylor's boys, who face McCallie in the semifinals. Both of Notre Dame's teams qualified in Class A/AA - the girls are seeking to repeat as champions - while in Class AAA, East Hamilton's girls will make their first state tournament appearance in program history.
GPS got the area's run of success rolling by winning four of five state titles from 2006 to 2010, with '09 the only outlier. The Lady Red Raiders picked up in 2011, starting their current string of consecutive titles.
In all five of their state championship matches, they've had to defeat GPS.
"When I took the job, Baylor hadn't won in quite a long time," seventh-year Baylor coach Dustin Kane said. "GPS at that time and still to this day is great. They've been either the best or second-best school in the state the entire time I've been here. They're the reason we have to push harder and harder every single year to be competitive."
With nine team state championships each, Baylor and GPS are second to Knoxville Webb's 12 all-time. At stake in Tuesday's semifinals - Baylor (13-0) faces Harpeth Hall, GPS (6-4) takes on Hutchison - is the chance to reach double-digits with a win in Wednesday's title match.
The Bruisers have been the best model of consistency in the Division II-AA tournament, having advanced to 13 consecutive semifinals. Baylor missed the 2009 tournament and was second in 2007 and 2010 prior to its most recent run.
"This is the most important week of the year for us," Kane said. "It's what we practice for. Every single year, our goal is to win state, and everything is is preparation for that. We play the whole season, learn, make adjustments and try to improve, all geared towards the ultimate goal of winning state."
That inward focus is something else the Bruisers have in common with their rivals.
"We always try to improve our individual players," GPS coach Sue Bartlett said. "We never really focus on winning certain matches or trophies or whatever, really. One of our goals is to win state, but then you have to do the best you can do individually and therefore as a team, but I do think certain elements are out of control. It's not about Baylor and us - historically it has been, but we play Hutchison and I'm sure their players have improved, so it'll be interesting.
"We expect to make the final four every year."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.