MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Baylor girls’ tennis team earned its eighth consecutive Division II-AA state championship on Wednesday.
And even moreso than the others, they had to work for this one every step of the way.
Lauren Carelli’s three-set victory at No. 2 singles provided the final margin in the Lady Red Raiders’ 4-3 win over GPS at the Adams Tennis Complex.
“We’ve been working so hard all year,” Carelli, who will walk on at Belmont, said. “To finish out that strong, even though it was close, was great. Everyone played amazing; today was more rewarding because we had to work hard for this one.”
GPS did something they hadn’t done against Baylor since the 2010 state championship match – take the doubles point. That forced the Lady Red Raiders to have to win four singles matches, and they complied as such, with Landie McBrayer, Anna Hawkins and Lilly Mooney taking wins prior to Carelli’s final triumph, a 6-1, 6-7 (10-8), 6-0 win over GPS’s Ellie Edwards.
Lipscomb signee Maddox Bandy and Barbie Edwards had the singles wins for the Bruisers. Bandy and Corinne Spann, and Kate Thel and Maggie Eslinger won in doubles to give GPS the early lead.
“GPS played unbelievable,” Baylor coach Kevin Donovan said. “They were fantastic. Give them all the credit for pushing us to the limit. The seniors really stepped up today and really did a good job; the whole year they’ve been true leaders, and they showed a great example today, true grit.”
Baylor joins Signal Mountain (Small Class) as area teams to win state titles Wednesday. Chattanooga Christian (Division II-A) fell 4-0 to Knoxville Webb in the finals.
Contact Gene Henley atghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.