The Regular Season Ends In Another Split.

I think I predicted our Boys would do better in our second match against Red Bank. Our team proved me right. We narrowly lost the first time around, 5-4. Today we took care of business and won 7-2. Big Congrats to our 3-6 seeds, who were all perfect on the day, winning their singles and doubles matches!

On the Girls side, what can you say. Coach Wagner has a talented bunch of players over there, and they have only gotten better. They went undefeated in our district and even beat teams from much bigger schools. On the plus side, we did manage to win two doubles matches against their reserves. Here are the results:


Red Bank Girls defeat Hixson Girls 7-2

Girls Singles:

Amy Metcalf (RB) def. Allison Cowart 8-1
Kristen Camp (RB) def. Candace Cline 8-0
Ivory Conley (RB) def. Ashton Summers 8-0
Megan Long (RB) def. Whitney Clack 8-1
Danielle Hargis (RB) def. Torey Hart 8-0
Claire Cox (RB) def. Kayla Morgan 8-2

Girls Doubles:

Conley/Long (RB) def. Cowart/Summers 8-1
Cline/Clack (H) def. Julia Reed/Ahmee Desai 8-3
Hart/Morgan (H) def. Sadie Kerlie/Taylor Lewis 8-5

Hixson Boys defeat Red Bank Boys 7-2

Boys Singles:

Mark Colbert (RB) def. George Ozborn 8-3
Dylan Millwood (H) def. Nic Gagliano 8-2
Corey Phillips (H) def. Jonathan Campbell 8-2
Eric Barr (H) def. Brandon Lewis 8-4
Jonathan Craft (H) def. Saagar Desai 8-3
Jae Yoo (H) def. Matthew Smith 8-4

Boys Doubles:

Colbert/Gagliano (RB) def. Ozborn/Millwood 8-3
Phillips/Barr (H) def. Campbell/Desai 9-7
Craft/Yoo (H) def. Lewis/Smith 8-2

Up Next: The District Tournament, Monday, May 10 -- don't hold me to this, but I think the matches are going to start around noon. I wish I could say that the hay is in the barn here, but it's not. We've still got a lot to try to improve upon between now and Monday afternoon. Our Varsity teams will practice at least Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and if I can get away with it, I might hold an optional practice on Mother's Day.

A Hard Fought Split.

Under summer-like conditions we met up with East Hamilton today at the Racquet Club to play a match that had been postponed due to Rain last week. The Hurricanes showed today why they are the team of the future in our district for the boys, as they almost managed to score a victory over us with their top 4 seeds missing. Our program still has some catching up to do, and I think our boys are beginning to really understand this.

Today's team match came down to the #2 Doubles which was still the last match going with the Wildcats dead even with Hurricanes at 4 wins apiece. My second and third seed doubles teams were both playing up today. I had decided this heading into the match, for two reasons. First, Eric & Corey and Jae & Jonathan will all be playing doubles in the upcoming District Tournament. So going up against a tough opponent in East Hamilton, I wanted to take advantage of this and have them play the best possible competition today. I also wanted to allow my #7 & 8 seeds some more match experience. Corey & Eric took care of business, while Russ & Alex played well in a losing cause. That left it all up to Jonathan & Jae. They were the last ones to finish in singles, so they were the last to go on in doubles. They played a near flawless match and won easily 8-3 to seal the victory-- our third district win.

On the girls side of the house, once again I had attendance issues. Two of my top three girls are involved with the Hixson Spring Choir Concert, and could only play singles, while two others were absent. Heading into the match down three is a serious uphill battle. We managed two wins in singles, but could muster no more. Here are the results:

East Hamilton Girls Defeat Hixson Girls 7-2

Girls Singles Results:

Allison Cowart (H) def. Abigail Ware 8-2
Candace Cline (H) def. Ashley River 8-5
Gabrielle Fern (EH) def. Ashton Summers 8-0
Katie Loftin (EH) def. Whitney Clack 8-4
Kayla Dyer (EH) def. Torey Hart 8-3
Paige Clark (EH) won by forfeit

Girls Doubles Results:

Ware/River (EH) def. Cowart/Hart 8-4
Clark/Ally Crum (EH) won by forfeit
Joanna Tang/Niki Legac (EH) won by forfeit

Hixson Boys Defeat East Hamilton Boys 5-4

Singles Results:

Tej Dhond (EH) def. George Ozborn 8-6
Dylan Millwood (H) def. Randsom Mark 8-6
David Templeton (EH) def. Corey Phillips 8-5
Eric Barr (H) def. River Mark 8-5
Jonathan Craft (H) def. Matt Sayne 8-1
Hunter Delaney (EH) def. Jae Yoo 8-4

Boys Doubles Results:

Phillips/Barr (H) def. Ryan Williamson/Chang Lee 8-5
Craft/Yoo (H) def. Templeton/River Mark 8-5
Tyler Simpson/Matt Sayne (EH) def. Russ Rebennack/Alex Shuford 8-4

Up Next: Our last regular season match is the continuance of our Red Bank Match which was shortened due to inclement weather last week. We are very much in the hunt for a win on the boys side. Play will start at 3:30pm at the Racquet Club.

How Sweep It Is!

For the first time this season our tennis teams managed a sweep! Both our boys and girls teams won easily. The girls even managed a win while forfeiting #6 singles and #3 doubles, because Ashton Summers and Caroline Daugherty were both absent. None of the girls who played lost. The boys won five of six singles matches and took another in doubles. I was able to give George and Dylan the day off in doubles, and Russ Rebennack and Alex Shufford (pictured below) played admirably in their first real match together at #3. They lost 8-5, but in order to get the matches done a little sooner, they actually played Lookout Valley's #2 team.



It's great to win, but it is even better to improve. I know our kids can get a little discouraged when they look at our won/loss record, but here's positive proof that we have improved: Last year our boys got blown out by Lookout Valley 7-0. Christian Eaves beat George Ozborn 6-0 (we played abbreviated pro sets due to the weather), today he was up 3-1, although Eaves didn't allow him to win another game, the score looks more lopsided than it was. I think he lost three games in row at deuce. A couple of points here or there, and George pulls this match out. Corey Phillips beat a guy today 8-3 that he lost to a year ago 6-3. Huge improvement. The guy Dylan Millwood beat today 8-4 beat our #2 last year 6-3 (Dylan played #4 in the match last year!). I am really proud of this bunch.

Here are the results:

Hixson Girls Defeat Lookout Valley Girls 7-2

Girls Singles:

Allison Cowart (H) def. Torey Yates 8-6
Candace Cline (H) def. Hope Gibson 8-1
Whitney Clack (H) def. Jessi Lowrance 8-1
Torey Hart (H) def. Hayley Brown 8-0
Kayla Morgan (H) def. Coti San 8-5
Brooklynn Burleson (LV) won by forfeit

Girls Doubles:

Cline/Clack (H) def. Gibson/Brown 8-1
Cowart/Hart (H) def. Burleson/Charis Dowell 8-2
San/Lawrence (LV) won by forfeit

Hixson Boys defeat Lookout Valley Boys 6-3

Boys Singles:

Christian Eaves (LV) def. George Ozborn 8-3
Dylan Millwood (H) def. Clayton Fuller 8-4
Corey Phillips (H) def. David Jones 8-3
Eric Barr (H) def. Mathew Dillard 8-1
Jonathan Craft (H) def. Sam Hartley 8-3
Jae Yoo (H) def. Katyen Tweedy 8-0

Boys Doubles:

Eaves/Fuller (LV) def. Phillips/Barr 8-1
Craft/Yoo (H) def. Hartley/Tweedy 8-0
Jones/Dillard (LV) def. Russ Rebennack/Alex Shuford 8-5

Up Next: East Hamilton on Monday @ 3:30pm @ the Racquet Club. The weather does not look good, but hopefully we'll get this one in as it is a district match. the boys will have their hands full, but if all my girls show up, we might snag a second "W" in a row!

When it Rains . . .

It pours. We almost got our match with Red Bank in today. Coach Wagner and I had some great help from parents and players alike, and we did manage to finish some of the matches, but not quite all of them. All the matches that finished will count, and we've got the scores of the matches that were halted due to the second rain/hail shower. Those matches will resume when we meet a week from Wednesday on May 5th at the Racquet Club-- start time: 3:30 pm.

Don't forget, uniform money must be paid by Friday! Give your checks made payable to Hixson High School to Mrs. Carr (the school bookkeeper): $40 for the boys and $60 for the girls.

Up next: Lookout Valley on Friday at the Racquet Club. Lookout Valley is no longer in our district, and I've not heard much about them. I would expect them to be pretty good on the boys and girls side-- but not super.

Boys Win, Girls Forfeit.

With four girls missing, including my top three, I decided to forfeit our district match today on the girls' side against Chattanooga Central. Apologies to the three who were ready to play, but I didn't think it was fair to the opposing team to have them show up and play a skeleton crew.

I warned the boys yesterday that Central would be eager to avenge their early season district loss against us, and that they should expect every match today to be tough. Although we ended up winning by the same score, 6-3, I thought the Purple Pounders played much better this time around, and with no seniors in their top six, should be quite a bit better next year.




Lots of bright spots on the day, but in particular I'd like to single out Corey Phillips (#3 seed singles, #2 Doubles-- pictured above) and Jae Yoo (#6 seed singles, #3 Doubles-- pictured below), who were both perfect on the day in singles and doubles.



Here are the results:

Hixson Boys Defeat Central Boys 6-3

Singles:

John Mitchell (C) def. George Ozborn 8-1
Dylan Millwood (H) def. Ethan Hickman 8-2
Corey Phillips (H) def. Coalton Mulkey 8-4
Jeff Chastain (C) def. Eric Barr 8-5
Jonathan Craft (H) def. Aaron Sanchez 8-5
Jae Yoo (H) def. Tyler Cranford 8-4

Doubles:

Mitchell/Chastain (C) def. Ozborn/Millwood 8-3
Phillips/Barr (H) def. Hickman/Mulkey 8-4
Craft/Yoo (H) def. Sanchez/Cranford 8-4

Up Next: The Red Bank Lions come to the Racquet Club on Tuesday. I believe their girls are still undefeated in district play, so we'll have our hands full on that front. We narrowly lost on the boys side last time, and I really think we can beat them this time around, assuming we all show up ready to play!

What a Week: CSAS, Rhea County & the Champions Tourney.

I know I've mentioned it before, but the Spring is a really busy time for me, so I am just now getting around to making a post even though we had two matches last week and the Champions Club Invitational. The only reason I've got time to do this is because our match with East Hamilton today was rained out. All the indoor courts were booked at the Racquet Club, so I got an impromptu afternoon off. I think the teams could use the day as well. We'll get back to it tomorrow.

It seems like a year ago, but a week ago today, we traveled back to Warner Park to play two very good CSAS squads for the second time this season. This match was supposed to be held at the Racquet Club, but our courts were still not ready. Coach Pate, a truly class act in high school athletics, was gracious enough to let us play at his home courts in lieu of rescheduling the date. Whitney Clack and Jonathan Craft were the only bright spots for either team, as CSAS showed why they are one of the teams to beat in our upcoming District tournament. Here are the results:

CSAS Girls Def. Hixson Girls 7-2

Girls Singles:

Kayla Kelly (C) def. Allison Cowart 8-0
Ahmee Kelly (C) def. Candace Cline (H) 8-2
Erin Mournier (C) def. Ashton Summers (H) 8-1
Whitney Clack (H) def. Maria Alley (C) 8-4
Cindy Ormaza (C) def. Torey Hart (H) 8-0
Hannah Byrne (C) def. Kayla Morgan (H) 8-0

Girls Doubles:

Mournier/Alley (C) def. Cowart/Summers (H) 8-5
Cline/Clack (H) def. Ormaza/Byrne (C) 8-4
Kelsey Williams/Allie Emmett (C) def. Hart/Morgan (H) 8-2

CSAS Boys def. Hixson Boys 6-3

Boys Singles:

Jackson Lenoir (C) def. George Ozborn (H) 8-2
Brian Wright (C) def. Dylan Millwood (H) 8-5
Alex Evers (C) def. Eric Barr (H) 8-3
Raja Moughrabi (C) def. Corey Phillips 8-2
Jonathan Craft (H) def. Raymond Kim 8-1
Colby Kendrick (C)def. Jae Yoo 8-4


Boys Doubles:

Evers/Moughrabi (C) def. Ozborn/Millwood (H) 8-6
Barr/Phillips (H) def. Kim/Chandler Custer (C) 8-4
Yoo/Craft (H) def. Calvin Bibbs-Lee/Justin Botting 8-7 (7-4)



Two days, later we took a trip up Hwy 27 to Dayton to play our second match versus Rhea County. The Boys and Girls took their lumps, but I felt everyone played well. Most impressive was Russ Rebennack (pictured above), who got his first varsity start in singles. He nearly pulled off the upset, losing 7-2 in a tiebreaker. Dylan Millwood (pictured below) also played a fantastic match, albeit a losing one. He too lost in a tiebreaker. This was the second meeting of the year for these two, and last time Rhea county's Jake Ricketts beat Dylan soundly 8-1. Nice show of improvement!



Here are the results:

Rhea County Girls defeat Hixson Girls 9-0

Girls Singls:

Ashley Stewart def. Allison Cowart 8-2
Kelsey Fredricks def. Candace Cline 8-2
Kaylee Cochran def. Ashton Summers 8-1
Kaylee Argo def. Whitney Clack 8-1
Addison Edwards def. Torey Hart 8-1
Kara McClendon def. Kayla Morgan 9-0

Girls Doubles:

Stewart/McClendon def. Cowart/Summers 8-5
Fredricks/Cochran def. Cline/Clack 8-1
Argo/Edwards def. Hart/Morgan 8-0

Rhea County Boys Defeat Hixson Boys 7-2

Boys Singles:

Dylan Coulter (RC) def. George Ozborn 8-3
Jake Ricketts (RC) def. Dylan Millwood 9-8 (7-0)
Wesley Sanders (RC) def. Corey Phillips 8-2
Jacob Davis (RC) def. Eric Barr 8-6
Zach Madewell (RC) def. Jae Yoo 8-1
Evan Smith (RC) def. Russ Rebennack 9-8 (7-2)

Boys Doubles:

Ozborn/Millwood (H) def. Davis/Smith 8-4
Phillips/Barr (H) def. Kyle Runyon/Austin Patton 8-4
Mitchell Barry/Ben Ross (RC) def. Yoo/Rebennack 8-5



Bright and early the next day, on Friday, we all gathered for our first invitational tournament since I took the job here at Hixson. The Champions Club (pictured above) has been hosting this tournament for several years. It is my understanding that Hixson may have taken part in it before, but it has been several years since our last appearance.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the tournament, there are two draws: A & B. The eight teams in the A Divison play regular single elimination tournament for each seed with a consolation draw (with every player guaranteed three singles matches and every doubles team is guaranteed three matches as well). The level of play is generally higher in the A Division, and it is a goal of mine to get our teams to that level. The B Divison was comprised of four teams and used a round robin format for each seed. Our Girls team got to play three teams they'd never faced before in Walker Valley, McMinn and Grace Academy. Our Boys were not quite so lucky, as they got to play only one new team in Grace Academy, along with CSAS and Rhea County (can you believe that?).

Too many matches for me to post all the scores, so I'll just mention that the girls finished third out of the four teams in their group and the boys finished in the cellar. I don't like to make excuses, but I'm pretty sure both CSAS and Rhea County were better than a couple of the teams in the A Division, and I was missing one of my top six. All things considered, I'm pretty happy about the experience gained by both my teams. I saw some amazing play from just about everybody on the team. Next year they will know what to expect, and we'll certainly be better prepared for our District Tourney in a couple of weeks.

Also, I would like to publicly thank Richard Millwood (Dylan's dad) for treating everyone who played in the tourney to a post-tournament dinner at Ci-Ci's Pizza. After playing six matches in two days, the kids certainly deserved it!

Up Next: Central at Lakeside Park. Our second match versus this District opponent. Our boys need to be focused, they won the first time, but I'm sure the Pounders would like to get a little revenge. Our girls nearly won with only five girls in the line-up. A sweep is possible!

We've Reached the Mid Point.

Kayla Morgan (above) teamed up with Torey Hart (below) to win their match in doubles against the Owls of Ooltewah.





Well we've played seven matches and we have six matches plus two tournaments to go. Whew! I realize our record does not indicate much improvement, but I can see it. Slowly but surely, these kids are starting to buy into the things I've been teaching them this year. I am super-excited about meeting up with some of these teams again to really gauge how much we've accomplished this season.

Our last match of the first half of the season started with a nightmarish trip up I-75 to the Ooltewah exit. It wasn't quite rush hour, but there was a lot of traffic, compounded by four lanes being bottle-necked into two lanes a couple of miles from our exit. Coach Buchanan completely understood, and he allowed our players some time to warm up properly, even though most of our team didn't show up until right around our 3:30pm start time.

Due to the late start and a few close matches, I didn't leave the courts till nearly 7:30pm. I did allow most of the team to head home early, and after the finish of #3 Girls Doubles, I was sorry I did. What a match! Torey Hart and Kayla Morgan (both of whom learned how to play tennis this year) were in a battle. Down five games to three, these two clawed their way back winning five of the next six games to win 8-6! More importantly, they did it the right way. They were being aggressive at the net. They were covering the open court. They were keeping the ball away from the opposing net player. All the things I preach in practice-- the match even ended with Torey (who was playing at the net) putting a short ball right in the belly of the opposing net player. She immediately apologized, and when I asked her about it, she said: "I was aiming at her feet." Perfect!

It was the only win we got against a very good Ooltewah team, and I couldn't have been more proud!



Allison Cowart (pictured above) almost pulled off a huge upset against Katie Woodham at the #1 Girls Singles spot. I've known Katie for a few years now, and I have never seen her that flustered. Allison's backhand slice was giving Katie all she could handle. Katie prevailed in the tiebreaker, but Allison played one heckuva match!

Here are the results:

Ooltewah Girls def. Hixson Girls 8-1

Girls Singles:

Katie Woodham (O) def. Allison Cowart, 9-8 (8-6)
Jessica Crum (O) def. Candace Cline, 8-4
Hollie Whitener (O) def. Ashton Summers, 8-0
Holly Humberger (O) def. Whitney Clack, 8-4
Wendy Rogers (O) def. Torey Hart, 8-1
Kayla Leach (O) def. Kayla Morgan, 8-5

Girls Doubles:

Woodham/Whitener (O) def. Cowart/Summers, 8-1
Crum/Humberger (O) def. Cline/Clack, 8-3
Hart/Morgan (H) def. Rogers/Leach, 8-6

Ooltewah Boys def. Hixson Boys 9-0

Boys Singles:

Caleb Friddell (O) def. Dylan Millwood, 8-3
Jack Wongmanee (O) def. George Ozborn, 8-4
Chris Stiner (O) def. Corey Phillips, 8-1
Kevin Squires (O) def. Eric Barr, 8-1
Bryson Lype (O) def. Jonathan Craft, 8-2
Nick Grenier (O) def. Jae Yoo, 8-0

Boys Doubles:

Friddell/Wongmanee (O) def. Millwood/Ozborn, 8-2
Stiner/Squires (O) def. Phillips/Barr, 8-0
Lype/Grenier (O) def. Craft/Yoo, 8-6

Up next: Spring Break! We've got 13 days before our next match which will be a home match versus CSAS. For those of you staying in town, be on the look out for some optional practices. The first one is slated for 9:00am on Friday at a court to be determined.

Courts Under Repair.

As most of you know by now, the outdoor hard courts at the Racquet Club are under repair. We had to move Monday's match against Red Bank to their home courts at Rivermont Park. When we meet them again on April 27, we will play on our home courts-- so please make a note of that on your schedules. It looks like we are going to have to move Wednesday's match against Ooletwah as well, but I won't know for sure until later this afternoon. I will let the team know today at practice. Ooletwah's home courts are located on their campus and you can find directions here: 6123 Mountain View Road.

As for the match against the Lions, it went pretty much as I suspected. The Lady Lions remain undefeated in District play and barring unforeseen circumstances should remain that way for the rest of the season. I had a full, healthy roster but we were no match for their depth and experience. Coach Wagner, having swept the singles, called off the dogs during the doubles matches and our girls got two out of three wins and lost the third in a close one 6-8. All in all it was a pleasant experience, and I'm proud of my girls for giving their best effort against a very tough team.

As I suggested in Sunday's post, I really liked our chances on the boys side. We almost pulled off the win. Heading into the doubles we had to sweep to secure a team win. We fell just short: taking two of three. Again I'd like to praise George Ozborn, who was not himself as he had been sick all weekend, and was still feeling under the weather at match time but insisted on playing both singles and doubles. I'm speculating, but I think if George was feeling better, we would have won this match going away. I can't wait till the Lions visit us in April. Jonathan Craft played superbly again winning his singles and doubles matches and big congratulations to Eric Barr (pictured below) for picking up his first singles win of the season!



Here are the results:

Red Bank Girls def. Hixson Girls 7-2

Girls Singles:

Amy Metcalf (RB) def. Allison Cowart, 8-2
Ivory Conley (RB) def. Candace Cline, 8-1
Kristen Camp (RB) def. Ashton Summers, 8-1
Megan Long (RB) def. Whitney Clack, 8-1
Rachel Hargis (RB) def. Torey Hart, 8-3
Danielle Moore (RB) def. Kayla Morgan, 8-1

Girls Doubles:

Cowart/Summers (H) def. Claire Cox/Amee Desai, 8-4
Cline/Clack (H) def. Julia Reed/Sadie Kerlie, 8-2
Taylor Lewis/ Tara Wiley (RB) def. Hart/Morgan, 8-6

Red Bank Boys def, Hixson Boys 5-4

Boys Singles:

Mark Colbert (RB) def. Dylan Millwood, 8-5
Nic Gagliano (RB) def. George Ozborn, 8-5
Brandon Lewis (RB) def. Corey Phillips, 8-5
Eric Barr (H) def. Jonathan Campbell, 9-7
Jonathan Craft (H) def. Saagar Desai, 8-6
Cody Cox (RB) def. Jae Yoo, 8-3

Boys Doubles:

Millwood/Ozborn (H) def. Colbert/Hunter Dake, 8-4
Gagliano/Lewis (RB) def. Phillips/Barr, 8-3
Craft/Yoo (H) def. Desai/Cox, 8-5

Up next: Ooltewah. The Owls are always tough and this year is no exception. The Lady Owls might be the toughest team our girls face this season. The boys will be very good as well. A difficult way to end the first half of the season to be sure, but, as they say: What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger.

Catching Up!

Hey folks, sorry I missed match recaps for the last two matches. I have been extremely busy. Hopefully, I'll stay on top of it from here on out. As I mentioned in the earlier email, the Red Bank match on Monday will be played at Rivermont Park instead of the Racquet Club as the work crews finish fixing our outdoor courts.



Not much good to say about the last two matches. We were outplayed by both Silverdale and East Hamilton. Silverdale Academy is a private school with plenty of experience. The one really bright spot for Hixson was George Ozborn (pictured above), who played one of the best matches I've ever seen him play in the two seasons that I've worked with him.

Here are the Silverdale results:

Silverdale Girls def. Hixson 8-1

Girls Singles:

Lauren Milligan (S) def. Allison Cowart (H) 8-1
Jessica Christensen (S) def. Candace Cline (H) 9-7
Kelsey Dalrymple (S) def. Whitney Clack (H) 8-0
Megan West (S) def. Torey Hart (H) 8-1
Molly Burns (S) def. Kayla Morgan (H) 8-1
Hannah Mench (S) def. Caroline Daugherty (H) 8-0

Girls Doubles:

Kristina Woods/ Sarah Pardue (S) def. Cline/Clack (H) 8-4
Cowart/Hart (H) def. Burns/Mench (S) 9-8 (7-5)
Megan Berry/Olivia Seay (S) def. Morgan/Daugherty (H) 8-5

Silverdale Boys def. Hixson Boys 8-1

Boys Singles:

George Ozborn (H) def. Alex Lowry (S) 8-6
Andrew Wicks (S) def. Dylan Millwood (H) 8-3
Reid Stubbefield (S) def. Corey Phillips (H) 8-6
Alex Nichols (S) def. Eric Barr (H) 8-1
Mitchell Brown (S) def. Jonathan Craft (H) 8-0
Jared Defrise (S) def. Jae Yoo (H) 8-3

Boys Doubles:

Lowry/Wicks (S) def. Ozborn/Millwood (H) 9-8 (7-5)
Stubbefield/Brown (S) def. Phillips/Barr (H) 8-4
Nichols/Defrise (S) def. Craft/Yoo (H) 8-3

The East Hamilton match was a learning experience. They have a very young team (there is no senior class at East Hamilton yet), but plenty of talent. Unfortunately, they look like the team to beat in our district for the next couple of years on the Boys side as their top two seeds are only in 9th and 10th grade. Still, if my boys are willing to work, I'm hoping we can close that gap sooner rather than later. Nice win for Jonathan Craft at #5 singles (pictured below).



My girls had a rough time with two of the top three seeds (Allison and Ashton) out due to illness. All the remaining girls played valiantly and even managed a win in doubles. We'll give the Lady Hurricanes a run for their money when they come to the Racquet Club in April-- I promise.

Here are the results:

East Hamilton Girls def. Hixson Girls 8-1

Girls Singles:

Hilleary Chandler (EH) def. Candace Cline, 8-1
Abigail Ware (EH) def. Whitney Clack, 8-4
Gabrielle Fern (EH) def. Torey Hart, 8-1
Ashley Riner (EH) def. Kayla Morgan, 8-0
Paige Clark (EH) def. Caroline Daugherty, 8-2
Joanna Tang (EH) wins by forfeit

Girls Doubles:

Cline/Clack (H) def. Katie Cotton/Nicole Rice, 8-4
Kayla Dyer/Ally Crum (EH) def. Hart/Morgan, 9-7
(EH) wins #3 doubles by forfeit

East Hamilton Boys def. Hixson boys 8-1

Boys Singles:

Zach McCormick (EH) def. George Ozborn, 8-1
Nick McCormick (EH) def. Dylan Millwood, 8-1
Daniel Jung (EH) def. Corey Phillips, 8-3
Ryan Williamson (EH) def. Eric Barr, 8-1
Jonathan Craft (H) def. David Templeton, 9-8 (7-3)
River Mark (EH) def. Jae Yoo, 8-3

Boys Doubles:

McCormick/McCormick (EH) def. Ozborn/Millwood, 8-1
Jung/Williamson (EH) def. Phillips/Barr, 8-3
Tej Dhond/Randsom Mark (EH) def. Craft/Yoo, 8-1

Up Next: Red Bank. From all accounts they look like the toughest team in our district on the Girls side. Their boys, however, are not as experienced and it should be a close match.

Directions to East Hamilton Match.

Hey folks, we had a tough one today against Silverdale. I'm not going to do a recap until tomorrow after our match with East Hamilton. Speaking of which, here are directions to Standifer Gap Park, which is where they play their home matches. Call me if you get lost!


Directions to Standifer Gap Park @ Yahoo Maps

Win One, Lose One

Well once again we've determined that the people running weather.com aren't very good at what they do. No rain today, and it actually felt like Spring for much of today's match. The clouds were looming there toward the end, but for the most part it was pleasant.

Congratulations to my Boys who earned their first district win. They won seven of the nine matches and lost another in a tough tiebreaker against the Purple Pounders of Chattanooga Central. Corey Phillips, Jae Yoo and Jonathan Craft (my 4, 5, and 6 seeds) really carried the load today by sweeping their singles and doubles matches. Very satisfying win.

The girls also played well, but were forced to forfeit two matches due to injury and illness. Still they almost pulled off the amazing upset. We had a chance with our last doubles match on the court. As a coach, I like my chances if that's the case. We'll see Central later in the year, and hopefully we'll have a full, healthy line-up.

Next week is another tough week with matches on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. With that in mind and the weather looking good for Saturday, I'm having a mandatory practice on Saturday 3:00pm to 5:00pm at the Racquet Club on the Hard Courts. I say "mandatory" but if you've already made plans to go out of town, or have something else going on, just let me know.

Here are the results:

Central Girls def. Hixson Girls 5-4

Girls Singles:

Autumn Baker (C) def. Allison Cowart (H) 8-6
Candace Cline (H) def. Taylor Woods (C) 8-2
Christy Loden (C) def. Ashton Summers (H) 8-6
Whitney Clack (H) def. Erin Jones (C) 8-1
Torey Hart (H) def. Alex Cotter (C) 8-3
Kelsey Cagle (C) def. Caroline Daugherty (H) Forfeit

Girls Doubles:

Cowart/Summers (H) def. Baker/Jones (C) 8-3
Woods/Loden (C) def. Cline/Clack (H) 8-4
Cotter/Cagle (C) def. Hart/Daugherty (H) Forfeit

Hixson Boys def. Central Boys 6-3

Boys Singles:

John Mitchell (C) def. George Ozborn (H) 8-2
Dylan Millwood (H) def. Coalton Mulkey (C) 8-6
Ethan Hickman (C) def. Eric Barr (H) 8-4
Corey Phillips (H) def. Jeff Chastain (C) 8-5
Jae Yoo (H) def. Aaron Sanchez (C) 8-5
Jonathan Craft (H) def. Alex Henley 8-4

Boys Doubles:

Mitchell/Mulkey (C) def. Millwood/Barr (H) 9-8 (7-5)
Ozborn/Phillips (H) def. Hickman/Chastain (C) 8-6
Yoo/Craft (H) def. Sanchez/Henley (C) 8-1

A Chilly Defeat at Warner Park.

Before we get into today's match recap, I hope you all have a chance to watch the above video (Parents, make your kids watch it). If you haven't had a chance to watch Gael Monfils (near court) play, then prepare to be amazed. His athleticism aside, what I want all my kids to take away from this video, is that Monfils (pronounced Mon-FEECE) never tries to do too much. Even the winner he hits at the end of the point looks effortless. When he's being chased from side to side, he hits the ball with spin and height and recovers toward the middle of the court. Too many times I see my players trying to do too much when they are off balance. This is not the time to try to hit a winner. Instead, throw up a lob and hope to keep the rally alive. I realize Monfils makes it look easy, but we can all learn something from that point. Okay, enough X's and O's. Here's the recap:

Those weather.com people have no idea what is going to happen do they? Again, the forecast was for a little sunshine today, but I don't think we ever got any. Instead, it was another cloudy, breezy day-- though not quite as cold as yesterday.

We lost to a tough district team today in CSAS, but we also scored some nice victories, and on the Boys' side, we maybe should have had a couple of others. Hats off to Jonathan Craft who won easily in just his second match ever in the number six slot. He and Jae Yoo had their chances, but lost in a tough tiebreaker in the number three doubles slot.

On the girls's side, Candace Cline coasted to an 8-1 victory in the #2 position, but we fell in all the other matches. Please keep Kayla Morgan in your thoughts and prayers this evening, as she had a bit of an issue with her knee and had to retire late in her match. She seemed fine a little while after, and was even asking to play in the doubles, but I decided we needed to err on the side of caution. Thanks to Caroline Daugherty for filling in admirably in the number three doubles position. Caroline got to play an exhibition yesterday against Rhea County, but this was her first real tennis match. Last year I did not have that luxury, you can't know how relieved I am to actually have a bench this year.

I'll keep my eye on the weather, but it does look like we are in for some rain on Wednesday night and Thursday. I'll wait as long as I can before canceling Thursday's match. If we can't play, I'm going to try to get us an indoor court so that we can get some practice in. Well that's it for now.


Here are the results:

CSAS Girls Def. Hixson Girls 8-1

Girls Singles:

Ahmee Kelly (C) def. Allison Cowart 8-3
Candace Cline (H) def. Erin Mournier (C) 8-1
Maria Alley (C) def. Ashton Summers (H) 8-4
Rachel Phillips (C) def. Whitney Clack (H) 8-6
Cindy Ormaza (C) def. Torey Hart (H) 8-0
Hannah Byrne (C) def. Kayla Morgan (H) 7-0 (Ret.)

Girls Doubles:

Kelly/Mournier (C) def. Cowart/Summers (H) 8-0
Alley/Phillips (C) def. Cline/Clack (H) 8-5
Kelsey Williams/Allie Emmett (C) def. Hart/Caroline Daugherty (H) 8-0

CSAS Boys def. Hixson Boys 7-2

Boys Singles:

Ian Derthick (C) def. George Ozborn (H) 8-2
Brian Wright (C) def. Dylan Millwood (H) 8-6
Alex Evers (C) def. Eric Barr (H) 8-1
Raja Moughrabi (C) def. Corey Phillips 8-4
Sam Kret (C) def. Jae Yoo 8-4
Jonathan Craft (H) def. Matt Collum 8-1

Boys Doubles:

Derthick/Wright (C) def. Millwood/Barr (H) 8-5
Ozborn/Phillips (H) def. Evers/Moughrabi (C) 8-7 (7-2)
Chandler Custer/Reymon Kim (C) def. Yoo/Craft (H) 8-7 (7-4)

Off to a Cold Start.

#4 Seed, Whitney Clack-- had our lone win in Singles on a cold day at the Racquet Club.



#2 Seed, Candace Cline-- teamed up with Whitney in #2 Doubles to snag our second "W" of the match.

(Special thanks to Melanie Cowart for the fabulous pictures!)


I can't remember a more miserable day to ask our kids to play tennis. The skies looked like they might start spitting snow at any moment, and I don't think the wind chill ever got above 40 degrees. To add insult to injury, we had to play a formidable opponent in the Golden Eagles. Still, our kids played their hearts out. Hats off to a well coached squad from Rhea County!

We had several members playing their first ever match (Kayla Morgan, Torey Hart, Jonathan Craft) and a couple others making their High School Tennis debut (Whitney Clack and Russ Rebennack). All in all, I must say that I'm quite pleased with the way things went. I'd like to single out the outstanding play of Freshman, Whitney Clack, who persevered through two tough tie breakers to stay perfect on the day. She won her singles match 9-7 in the tiebreak, and along with Candace Cline was able to outlast their Rhea County opponents 7-4 in the breaker. For those of you new to the sport, our teams play pro-sets to 8 games. If they are tied after 14 games (7-7), they play a tiebreaker to 7 points, but you have to win by two. It makes for some exciting tennis, as any of you who stuck around for the end of that doubles match can attest.

Here are the results:

Rhea County Girls Defeat Hixson Girls 7-2

Girls Singles:

Kelci Fredericks (RC) def. Allison Cowart (H) 8-0
Caylee Cochran (RC) def. Candace Cline (H) 8-2
Kayley Argo (RC) def. Ashton Summers (H) 8-3
Whitney Clack (H) def. Addison Edwards (RC) 8-7 (9-7)
Gina Reed (RC) def. Torey Hart (H) 8-0
Kara McClendon (RC) def. Kayla Morgan (H) 8-1

Girls Doubles:

Fredricks/Cochran (RC) def. Cowart/Summers (H) 8-0
Cline/Clack (H) def. Johnston/Yearwood (RC) 8-7 (7-4)
Chavis/Clevenger (RC) def. Hart/Morgan (H) 8-5

Rhea County Boys defeat Hixson Boys 9-0

Boys Singles:

Dylan Coulter (RC) def. George Ozborn 8-3
Jake Ricketts (RC) def. Dylan Millwood 8-2
Jacob Davis (RC) def. Eric Barr 8-0
Zach Madewell (RC) def. Corey Phillips 8-3
Wesley Sanders (RC) def. Jae Yoo 8-2
Evan Smith (RC) def. Jonathan Craft 8-6

Boys Doubles:

Coulter/Sanders (RC) def. Millwood/Barr (H) 8-2
Ricketts/Madewell (RC) def. Ozborn/Phillips (H) 8-3
Davis/Smith (RC) def. Yoo/Russ Rebennack (H) 8-0

Next match is tomorrow against CSAS @ Warner Park, they should be just as tough, but hopefully the weather will be kinder.

Welcome to the New Hixson High School Tennis Blog!

Hey Folks,

I thought instead of boring you all with periodic emails, I'd carve out a little niche for us here in the blogosphere. I'll be posting stuff here throughout the year in order help keep everyone informed of what's going on with the Hixson High School Tennis Teams. Let's get started, shall we?

The season kicks off in full gear this week with matches scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Looking at the extended forecast, it looks like we should be fine on M & T, but it looks bad for Thursday-- hopefully that will change between now and then.

As for the uniforms, I apologize. I think the girls are getting theirs in on Monday (fingers crossed!) and hopefully the boys will too. I ordered the boys' uniforms at the beginning of the month, but there was a slight mix up between the the school's accountant and the company we ordered the uniforms from. Long story short, Mrs. Carr just sent them a copy of our Purchase Order via Fax on Friday morning, so the uniforms were still sitting in California as of Friday. We asked for expedited shipping, but who knows with the weekend. If all else fails, we are just going to wear the Hixson Tennis T-Shirts that I've given everybody. The boys can wear black shorts and the girls a black or white skirt.

Well, that is all for now. Hope to see you at the matches this week! And as always, I welcome any comments or questions.