MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Prior to leaving for Murfreesboro, the McCallie tennis team heard from school officials about restoring the Blue Tornado's tradition in the sport, which includes eight team state championships and numerous individual titles.
Ryan Crump and Charlie Thel added to that Friday.
The McCallie pair defeated Baylor's Alec Kadrie and Benjamin Taverne for the Division II-AA state doubles title, the school's first since 2008 and first tennis title of any sort since the 2009 team championship.
Crump and Thel had lost four times to the Baylor pair, including an 8-2 defeat Tuesday in the team semifinals.
"From the beginning of the season, we've had growing pains and lost to some teams we should have beaten," Crump said. "The turning point for us was at the Carter Invitational when we beat two really solid doubles teams, and we carried that momentum into the rest of the season."
The McCallie pair won all of the key swing points Friday, taking the first set 7-6 (7-4 in the tiebreaker) and rallying for a 6-4 win in the second set.
"We knew if we could get our returns back in play - not even hitting winners - we could win, because we knew we were better," Thel said. "Getting the ball in play was an important part for us today."
Despite making all 21 Spring Flings, the title drought hasn't been lost on the Blue Tornado, who got a pep talk from the coaching staff and headmaster Lee Burns before getting on the bus. Although the McCallie duo can't affect the future physically - Thel is graduating and Crump has used all of his eligbility - they hope Friday's win can propel future players.
"We wanted to get this done, and we did," Crump said. "This is our last year to be able to bring a state championship back to McCallie, and with some young, upcoming players, hopefully they'll be able to win some state championships in the future."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.