MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - When Baylor and Montgomery Bell Academy's boys' tennis teams played on April 21, the Red Raiders won all of the important points.
On Wednesday, with the stakes much higher, the Big Red claimed them.
MBA won the doubles point, then claimed the three singles victories needed to defeat Baylor 4-2 in the Division II-AA state championship match at the Adams Tennis Center. It was the program's first championship since 2012, and it came a year after Baylor won its first title in 19 seasons.
"MBA had nothing to lose," Baylor coach Ned Caswell said. "They came out and played great, kudos to them."
Baylor won the regular-season match 4-2, in part because the Red Raiders claimed the doubles point with two victories out of the three contested matches.
Baylor's Alec Kadrie and Ben Taverne won the first meeting 8-5 over George Harwell and John Spurgeon; the MBA duo won Wednesday's match 8-3. Cooper Long and Ryan Toomey won both meetings against John Morphett and Hugh Graham 8-4, but MBA's Matthew Bulow and Richard Cummins defeated Ethan Palisoc and Edward O'Neal 8-4 on Wednesday.
Kadrie and Taverne won their singles matches Wednesday, but the Vanderbilt-bound Harwell, Graham and Cummins claimed MBA's wins to clinch the title.
The Red Raiders (8-4) played most of the season without Brandon Kali, who suffered an injury and was lost after their April 11 match against McCallie.
"We had some guys step up," Caswell said. "Alec Kadrie had the season of a lifetime. He's the best player in the state, in my opinion.
"All of the seniors played well."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.