MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Tennessee’s Division II-AA girls’ tennis championship is certain to come back to Chattanooga this year.
Whether it will rest in a Baylor trophy case or a GPS one will be settled today. They will battle each another this morning at 10 EDT at Old Fort State Park with the state championship on the line.
St. Andrew’s-Sewanee, which defeated St. George’s 4-3 on Tuesday, will face Knoxville Webb at the same time for the Division II-A title.
GPS’s Bruisers (13-2) had a relatively easy road to the championship match, though not as easy as the 4-0 score against Harpeth Hall would suggest. There were split sets in two matches that didn’t finish.
GPS gained the point in doubles by sweeping the three matches, then got singles wins from Sarah Evans, Meredith Morrow and Emma McCallie.
“I was glad to have a tough match today, with Baylor coming up tomorrow,” GPS coach Sue Bartlett said. “Harpeth Hall came out and played unbelievable — better than they had when we played them during the season. They were really strong in their singles, but we were able to get them taken care of.”
Baylor (11-2) had to battle but was able to outlast defending state champion Hutchison 4-3 in the other semifinal, with senior Katie Thornton pulling out the key win at No. 5 singles.
The Lady Red Raiders found themselves down a point after losing two of three in doubles, but they got singles wins from Samantha Caswell, Sarah Berchuck and Maggie Crumbliss to tie the match at 3.
Thornton’s 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win over Amelia Sims clinched the win.
“Every time we’ve gone out lately, we’ve had someone step up to the plate and get it done,” Baylor coach Dustin Kane said. “We had some girls put us in a position to win, and we deserve to be in this position because of how hard we worked.”
St. Andrew’s-Sewanee (13-3) got a win at No. 1 doubles from Avery and Sadie Shackelford to clinch the victory over St. George’s — avenging a loss from last season. Those two and sister Michaela had wins in singles.
“We knew it was going to be a tough match,” SAS coach Kelley Black said. “Sadie did a good job coming back and getting a win at No. 1 singles.
“We showed great patience and determination in getting the win.”
Cleveland, CCS fall
In Division I play, the Cleveland and Chattanooga Christian girls lost semifinals. Cleveland’s Lady Raiders fell 4-0 to Ravenwood in Class AAA, while the Lady Chargers dropped a 4-1 decision to Christ Presbyterian Academy.