Wildcats Split with Chargers

Under nearly perfect conditions, the Hixson Wildcats got there first full match in of 2015. The Boys prevailed 6-3 while the girls were outmatched 9-0. Lots of growing pains on the Girls' side as we have a very inexperienced team this year with half the Varsity squad having no High School match experience. I thought the Girls fought hard today, and they will improve as move forward.

The Boys did about as well as can be expected, nearly sweeping singles. I would have liked to have taken 2 out of 3 doubles, but I thought our #1 Doubles team fought hard. 

Hixson Boys def. CCS Boys 6-3

Boys Singles:

Alex Condra (H) def. Joe Sliger 8-4

Richard Vuong (H) def. Will French 8-2

Carl Phillips (H) def. Rett Bryat 8-3

Landon Goforth (H) def. Chris Taylor 8-5

Angel Salinas (H) def. Addison Turner 8-3

Tommy Howell (C) def. Spencer Clack 8-2

Boys Doubles:

Sliger/French (C) def. Condra/Vuong 8-6

Phillips/Goforth (H) def. Bryant/Howell 9-7

Taylor/Turner (C) def. Salinas/Xavier Salinas 8-1

Records:

Hixson 2-0 (Overall); 1-0 (District 6-A/AA)

CCS 0-1 (Overall); 0-0 (District 7-A/AA)

Chattanooga Christian Girls def. Hixson Girls 9-0

Girls Singles:

Annie Reynolds def. Maggie Ozborn 8-2

Lizzy Hoffecker def Caylee Schannuth 8-3

Jade Baker def. Kinsey Woods 8-3

Amelia Muay def. Makayla Catlett 8-0

Addie Boulware def. Karmin Nevels 8-3

Holly Schumert def. Lexy Niznick 8-2

Girls Doubles:

Reynolds/Hoffecker def. Ozborn/Schannuth 8-5

Baker/Muay def. Woods/Catlett 8-2

Boulware/Schumert def. Nevels/Niznick 8-2

Records:

Hixson 1-1  (Overall); 1-0 (District 6-A/AA)

CCS 0-1 (Overall); 0-0 (District 7-A/AA)

Boys Make History! Sectional Champions 2014

Another late update to our Hixson Tennis Season.  Whew, what a year we have had!

The Boys made history for our Program by winning the first Team Region ever against Boyd Buchanan. We won that match relatively easily, with all five of our boys winning their singles matches and not needing to play doubles.

Their run was not over yet, as a week later we traveled to Signal Mountain to battle the Eagles for a chance to go to Murfreesboro. Signal Mountain, you will recall, beat us at home earlier in the Season to hand our boys their first loss of the season.  The format for the Sectional battle (five singles and two doubles matches) favored our boys, and they prevailed 4-2.  Another first for our program: Sectional Champs and we were on our way to Murfreesboro as State Semi-Finalists!

We had our chances against Christ Presbyterian Academy out of Nashville, but it was not to be.  We took an early 3-0 lead in singles, but lost the final two singles matches at #2 and #5-- both of which were three set affairs.  Still, I liked our chances, as we only needed one match in doubles to advance to the State Final.  Our #2 doubles team, lost quickly, 3-8.  It was up to our #1 doubles team.  This match went back and forth and finally the two teams were even at eight games apiece.  Hixson managed to stave off an early match point against, and were even on serve with their own match point, but the CPA team found away to win that point and closed out the match two points later, 6-8.

As I said on Facebook, it is easy to lose when your team gets blown out, but tougher to swallow when you know that you are every bit as good as the players on the other side of the net. This one came down to experience.  The CPA boys have been to this tournament at least twice before.  They lost in the Semis in 2012, and lost in the final in 2013.  They used every bit of that experience to find a way to win against our team.  Still, I am so proud of this team and all that they accomplished.  I know that they are still a very young group of players with a lot of room for improvement.  I fully expect this team to get back to Murfreesboro before it is all said and done.

The road back to the State Tournament, however,  is a long and hard one.  I'm only losing one player from this squad, but he happens to be one of my most productive players, senior Kevin Nguyen.  Kevin went 5-0 in the #4 Singles position and 10-3 in the #1 and #2 Doubles spots. That is a lot of wins I need from someone else next year.  The Wildcats will NEED to work hard all year in order to get back into this position.  I can work with them this summer, but once August comes around, they will be on their own to keep practicing.  Official practice starts February 16, 2015. They had better be ready!

Wildcats Split With Blue Raiders

The regular season is winding down, but that does not necessarily mean the competition is any easier.  Our Boys lost for only the third time this season against a very talented group from Cleveland.  The Girls, on the other hand, got their first non-district win of the year against the Blue Raiders!

Michelle Phillips played a near flawless match to win at #1 singles, to get the Wildcats off to a terrific start.  We ended up with four wins coming out of singles and all we needed was one win in doubles-- we got two.  Michelle and Haylee Gossett dominated in the #1 doubles spot, and Maggie Ozborn and Caylee Schannuth (pictured above) did the same in the #3 doubles position.

As for the Boys, I knew we would have a fight on our hands.  What I did not anticipate, was that we would roll over and play dead once we got to doubles.  Doubles has always been the hallmark of the Hixson Tennis Program since I took over in 2009.  This year for the Boys, it has been our downfall.  In the three losses the Boys' team has endured this season (Signal Mountain, Notre Dame and now Cleveland) it has been our doubles play which made the difference.  Had we taken care of business in doubles in all three of those losses, our Boys would be sitting at 12-0 this year.  I honestly cannot tell you why I have not been able to teach this team how to play doubles.  I am at a loss.  We work on doubles as much or more than any Hixson team has in the past, but our execution has been mediocre at best.  I blame myself, and I will try to find the solution this week.  I'd better, because time is running out.

Here are the full results:

Cleveland Boys Def. Hixson Boys 6-3

Singles:

Alex Condra (H) def. Jake Gibson 8-2

Brandon Williams (C) def. Richard Vuong 9-8 (7-5)

Carl Phillips (H) def. Shivang Patel 8-4

Kevin Nguyen (H) def. Kevin Harucharrah 8-4

Adam Klibisz (C) def. Rivers De'Friese 8-2

Vereen Patel (C) def. Angel Salinas 8-2

Doubles:

Gibson/S. Patel (C) def. Condra/Vuong 8-6

Williams/Harucharrah (C) def. Phillips/Nguyen 9-7

Klibisz/V. Patel (C) def. De'Friese/Landon Goforth 8-3

Hixson Boys' Record: 9-3 (Overall); 6-0 (District 6-A/AA Champion)

Hixson Girls Def. Cleveland Girls 6-3

Singles:

Michelle Phillips (H) def. Katherine Cantrell 8-1

Maddie Ohlsson (C) def. Haylee Gossett 8-0

Emily Davis (H) def. Heidi Barringer 9-8 (7-2)

Caylee Schannuth (H) def. Sammi Kate Eason 8-3

Merideth Wheeler (C) def. Maggie Ozborn 9-7

Corynne Schannuth (H) def. Angie Giraldo 8-2

Doubles:

Phillips/Gossett (H) def. Cantrell/Ohlsson 8-4

Barringer/Eason (C) def. Davis/Cor. Schannuth 9-7

Cay. Schannuth/Ozborn (H) def. Wheeler/Giraldo 8-1

Hixson Girls' Record: 7-5 (Overall); 6-0 (District 6-A/AA Champion)

UP NEXT: Thursday, April 24 Vs. East Hamilton @ Home.  Formerly an arch-District rival, the Hurricanes are coming back to the Racquet Club, having recently graduated to the Triple-A classification.  I have not paid much attention to how EH is doing in their new district, but I would imagine they are still very tough on the Girls' side and less so on the Boys'.  I will stress the fact that we cannot underestimate them. 

April 4 & 5 - Hixson Boys Play in The Rotary!

In January, I enquired about getting into the prestigious Rotary Tournament, which has been going strong for over 50 years here in Chattanooga.  Our team was immediately put on the waiting list and a few weeks later, I got an email informing me that one of the teams had dropped out, and asking me if Hixson be interested.  I'm pretty sure everyone in my neighborhood heard my emphatic "YESS!" upon reading that email. Of course, I still had to get approval from our school, and actually reply in the affirmative, but that was the moment that I realized that people were starting to take this team seriously.

The first part of our schedule was pretty demanding, and after barely getting by Chattanooga Christian, we had two set backs: a tough 5-4 loss to Signal Mountain and an awful 7-2 loss to Notre Dame.  Neither of those teams are in our District, but I told our boys that if they played like that at the Rotary, they would not be in for a fun weekend.

Friday, April 4 finally came, and it was a rainy mess.  Luckily, our draw was at McCallie and we managed to get all the matches in on Friday thanks to their lovely new indoor facility (pictured below), and a short match format.

We only had one win in the first round, Carl Phillips at #4 Singles, but I thought everyone played well.  Kevin Nguyen, Richard Vuong, Ethan Gossett and Rivers De'Friese all lost in third set tiebreakers. So we had our chances.

We ended up with two doubles teams in the Consolation finals: Carl Phillips & Kevin Nguyen won their final, and Ethan Gossett & Rivers De'Friese lost.  We also had three singles players in the consolation finals, but could not manage to get a win.  Still the valuable match experience that Ethan, Rivers and Kevin got in that consolation final cannot be over-stated.

As a team we finished sixth out of eight teams, tied with Signal Mountain.  Our kids learned a lot, and  hopefully understand what it takes to win at the next level.  I'm proud of them, and hope we get to come back to this tournament next year.  We should only lose one player from this group, so heading into this tournament next year, we might surprise a few more folks.