The GPS tennis team and coach Sue Bartlett eventually found the recipe to success in doubles Tuesday. It just took a while to mix.
Bartlett slightly altered her pairings against rival Baylor, which jumped out to leads in Nos. 1 and 2 doubles. The Bruisers eventually figured each other out and pulled out wins in both and went on to defeat Baylor 4-3 in a Division II-Mid/East region match.
Sarah Evans teamed with Aliza Williams while Bronte Goodhue, Evans’ partner for the past two seasons, was joined by Emma McCallie. Evans and Williams fell behind Baylor’s Sarah Berchuck and Erika Marschall 7-4 before winning the final five games; Goodhue and McCallie were down 7-6 before winning the final three.
Both Baylor teams had set-point opportunities before falling.
Evans, Goodhue and McCallie had singles wins to secure the victory for GPS, which owns the top seed going into the region tournament.
“During the season, things happen and you sometimes have to have different partners,” Bartlett said. “We had tried to mix things up earlier, but I didn’t tell them about it until a couple days ago.
“Even when we were down, I thought we looked good. In the end, we just started executing.”
Baylor had a doubles victory by Harper Caswell and Kelly Scruggs and singles wins from Berchuck, Caswell and Maggie Crumbliss.
“We fought hard and I’m proud of the girls,” Baylor coach Dustin Kane said. “We were close in the matches but gave up a lot of opportunities. When you have matches as tight as these were, a point here and there makes the difference.
“Last time we got them, this time they did.”