Hurricanes Sweep Wildcats.

I'm sure everyone is ready for Spring to get here and stay here. Today was the coldest day of the week by quite a few degrees. I should have saved that snow image I used on Monday for today! Seriously, I would not have been surprised if a few snowflakes had started coming down this afternoon at Standifer Gap.

It's always the toughest to do these recaps when both teams lose, but let's just stick with the bright spots, shall we? First, BIG congratulations to Whitney Clack (pictured above) for getting the girls their first win of the week! 8-1 feels a heckuva lot better than 9-0, which is what we posted on Monday and Tuesday. I'm not going to kid you, when I made this schedule up, I knew this week was going to be tough. I also knew it would be the hardest on the girls. I fully expect this East Hamilton girls team to win our district. I was prepared to see bigger margins of victory in just about every match. Instead, I saw our girls fight. Maybe playing Walker Valley and CCS earlier in the week helped after all.

As for the boys, let me just say that I don't think I've ever been as proud of our doubles play as I was this afternoon. Have we swept double before? Sure. Have we ever swept doubles from a team that on paper seems much better than us? Not since I've been here. I was able to practice with the boys yesterday and I told them, their only chance at beating the Hurricanes was by sweeping the doubles. We had a terrific practice yesterday, and they did exactly that: they gave themselves a chance to beat East Hamilton. One win shy, but we had our chance. Nice day for Eric Barr who was the only player to stay perfect on the day by winning his singles match.


Here are the results:

East Hamilton Girls def. Hixson Girls 8-1

Girls Singles:

Taylor Johnson (EH) def. Candace Cline 8-1
Whitney Clack (H) def. Hilleary Chandler 8-5
Abby Ware (EH) def. Michelle Phillips 8-3
Kayla Dyer (EH) def. Haylee Gossett 8-6
Carly Jones (EH) def. Corynne Schannuth 8-4
Jessica Peters (EH) def. Kayla Morgan 8-4

Girls Doubles:

Johnson/Chandler (EH) def. Cline/Clack 8-0
Jones/Jordan Kaset (EH) def.Gossett/Schannuth 8-3
Ware/Dyer (EH) def. Phillips/Morgan

Records:
Hixson 1-4 (1-2)
East Hamilton

East Hamilton Boys def. Hixson Boys 5-4

Boys Singles:

Daniel Jung (EH) def. Dylan Millwood 8-4
Bailey Lenoir (EH) def. George Ozborn 8-6
Ryan Williamson (EH) def. Cory Phillips 8-5
Clark Templeton (EH) def. Myles Goforth 8-4
Eric Barr (H) def. Randsom Mark 8-3
Tej Dehond (EH) def. Jae Yoo 8-0

Boys Doubles:

Ozborn/Phillips (H) def. Jung/Lenoir 8-6
Millwood/Goforth (H) def. River Mark/David Templeton 8-6
Barr/Yoo (H) def. C. Templeton/ Matthew Sayne 9-8 (7-5)

Records:
Hixson 3-2 (2-1)
East Hamilton

Up Next: Friday, April 1 @ HOME versus Silverdale for the GIRLS ONLY. Although this year's Lady Seahawks are not nearly as good as last year's district 5-A/AA champion team (they lost three seniors from their top 6), they still should be a very good team.

Hixson Splits with Walker Valley

The boys got a good non-district win today, and the first against a Triple A school during my tenure at Hixson. Walker Valley, who are in a bit of a rebuilding phase, came in with very talented #1 and #2 seeds. Those two players, both seniors, accounted for all the scoring the Mustangs would accumulate on the day. They both won their singles matches and together they won at #1 doubles. Other than that, it was all Hixson. Myles Goforth, Eric Barr and Jae Yoo (our #4, #5 and #6 seeds) were all perfect on the day winning in singles and doubles, sealing the victory. Big congratulations to Eric Barr (pictured above), who was down 2-6, but ended up coming back to win his singles match in tiebreaker.

The Walker Valley girls came into today's match unbeaten, and they are a very formidable team. Perhaps not as dominating as the CCS squad we faced yesterday, but the Lady Mustangs did not allow any of our girls to get on the scoreboard. File this one under: Growing Pains.

Here are the results:

Walker Valley Girls def. Hixson Girls 9-0

Girls Singles:

Alyssa McAlister def. Candace Cline 8-1
Wendi Watson def. Whitney Clack 8-5
Reed Jones def. Michelle Phillips 8-3
Casey DeCook def. Haylee Gossett 8-0
Taryn Wilson def. Corynne Schannuth 8-2
Jami Gibson def. Kayla Morgan 8-1

Girls Doubles

DeCook/Gibson def. Cline/Clack 8-4
Watson/Kayla Beckler def. Gossett/Schannuth 8-0
Jones/Wilson def. Phillips/Morgan 8-3


Records:
Walker Valley 3-0 (1-0)
Hixson 1-3 (1-1)

Hixson Boys def. Walker Valley Boys 6-3

Boys Singles:

Ben Watson (WV) def. Dylan Millwood (H) 8-3
Jordan Willautt (WV) def. George Ozborn (H) 8-3
Cory Phillips (H) def. Chase Bynum (WV) 8-6
Myles Goforth (H) def. Jordan Glover (WV) 8-2
Eric Barr (H) def. Joel Childers (WV) 9-8 (7-2)
Jae Yoo (H) def. Trevor Harper (WV) 8-4

Boys Doubles:

Watson/Willautt (WV) def. Ozborn/Phillips (H) 8-4
Millwood/Goforth (H) def. Bynum/Harper (WV) 8-6
Barr/Yoo (H) def. Glover/Harper (WV) 8-4

Records:
Walker Valley 1-2 (1-0)
Hixson 3-1 (2-0)

Up Next: Thursday, March 31 @ East Hamilton. VERY IMPORTANT district match for the boys. The Hurricanes lost their top two seeds from last year, but they still have a solid team. Their girls are much improved from last year's squad, and may be the best girl's team in our district. We've got our work cut out for us!

CCS Charges past Wildcats.

Okay, it wasn't that cold out there today, but it wasn't warm either. We had a very difficult non-district match today at Chattanooga Christian. If you're a college basketball fan, this would be like putting Duke or North Carolina on your non-conference schedule. It rained most this morning, and for awhile there it looked like we might have to cancel. The sun never really poked out, but it was still dry enough by 4:00pm to play, even if it was a little chilly.

Great turnout today from the parents by the way, I'd like to thank each and every one of you who came out to support our team. I know it means a lot to the kids, even if they don't always tell you. For those of you who made it out to CCS, I'm sure you noticed their giant billboards commemorating all of their past glories. Sue Webb has built quite a program over there, and her teams are always competitive. You saw that today, especially on the girls' side. You see, that Duke/North Carolina analogy isn't too far off the mark!

We had to scratch and claw for every point and game we won. Although it is tough to mention a highlight when a team gets shut out, I have got to mention the effort by Michelle Phillips at #3 singles. Although she only managed to win two games, she absolutely gave the CCS girl everything she could handle. A valiant effort against a very tough opponent. All in all, we'll chalk this one up as a learning experience. Remember, we've got three freshmen girls in the top six. Right now they are playing for the future.

On the boys' side, I actually thought we could have done a little better. Perhaps CCS deserved to win today, but it definitely should have been closer. Dylan Millwood took care of business at #1 singles and Jae Yoo did the same at #6, but those were the only two W's we got. I don't think the score indicates how close we actually are to the Chargers in talent. I was especially disappointed in our poor performance in doubles. I blame myself for this. I have been trying to figure out what lineup works best, and I have not found a solution. I'll stick with this one for now, because we don't have time to change it before our next match tomorrow.

Here are the results:

CCS Girls def. Hixson Girls 9-0

Girls Singles:

Ellie Henry def. Candace Cline 8-0
Gretchen Rowe def. Whitney Clack 8-2
Hannah Henry def. Michelle Phillips 8-2
Suzannah Sliger def. Haylee Gossett 8-1
Tiffany Sullivan def. Corynne Schannuth 8-2
Marleah Payne def. Kayla Morgan 8-2

Girls Doubles:

E. Henry/Rowe def. Cline/Clack 8-0
H. Henry/Sullivan def. Gossett/Schannuth 8-0
Gracie Smith/Allie Sullivan def. Phillips/Morgan 8-0

Records:
CCS 3-0 (1-0); Hixson is 1-2 (1-1)


CCS Boys def. Hixson Boys 7-2

Singles:

Dylan Millwood (H) def, Stewart Fellers 9-8 (9-7)
Barrett Schock (C) def. George Ozborn 8-0
Matthew Day (C) def. Cory Phillips 8-2
David Herberich (C) def. Myles Goforth 8-6
Nick Ryan (C) def. Eric Barr 8-5
Jae Yoo (H) def. Patrick Cooper 8-6

Doubles:

Fellers/Schock (C) def. Ozborn/Phillips 8-2
Herberich/Ryan (C) def. Millwood/Goforth 8-2
Schock/ Tim Payne (C) def. Barr/Yoo 8-1

Records:

CCS 3-0 (1-0); Hixson 2-1 (2-0)

Up Next: Tuesday, March 29 @ Home against Walker Valley. Not sure how good the Mustangs are this year. I know that they have fielded good teams in recent years, and they are in a district 5-AAA (so they are a little bigger than Hixson). Should be a good match for both the boys and girls.

Convincing Sweep Today!

Both the boys and girls teams took care of business today in District play, which means I get to use my favorite image (the one above with the moving broom)! It's nice to get a sweep, but it's even sweeter when it is against one of the schools in our District.

Lots of highlights today. First, let me just list all the players who won their Doubles and Singles matches: Whitney, Michelle, Haylee, Kayla, George, Cory, and Eric. Alex Shuford, subbing for Jae Yoo who had a hand injury, got a hard fought win at #6 singles, marking the first Varsity singles win of his career at Hixson. Nathan Terrell, a freshmen, also got his first action in a varsity match. He came in with Eric Barr and picked up a win at #3 doubles.

One of the best comebacks I've seen since taking the job at Hixson, was at #2 singles on the girls side. I did not see what happened at the start of the match, but by the time I got down there Whitney was down 1-5. After watching a few points, I could tell Whit was clearly the better player. She lost that game though-- now it was 1-6. Luckily, coaching is allowed during matches in High School tennis, so I got to speak with her on the change over. I told her that I thought she was the better player, and she agreed. I told her to take it one point at a time. She's a good listener, because she proceeded to win the next 7 games for the win, 8-6.

Very nice way to head into Spring Break. Which reminds me. There will be mandatory practice next week at the Racquet Club at our normal time for anyone not going out of town. If you are going out of town, I need a parent to let me know. We have got a ridiculous week coming up right after Spring Break with four matches in five days (who made this schedule?). We have a lot of work to do.

Here are the results:


Hixson Girls (1-1) def. Central Girls (0-2): 7-2

Girls Singles:

Autumn Baker (C) def. Candace Cline; 8-3
Whitney Clack (H) def. Christie Loden; 8-6
Michelle Phillips (H) def. Dora Harper; 8-4
Haylee Gossett (H) def. Tiffany Murray; 8-5
Erin Jones (C) def. Corynne Schannuth; 9-8 (10-8)
Kayla Morgan (H) def. Laura Belcher; 8-5

Girls Doubles:

Cline/Clack (H) def. Baker/Harper; 8-6
Gossett/Schannuth (H) def. Loden/Murray; 8-4
Phillips/Morgan (H) def. Belcher/Tyler McKenzie; 8-3

Hixson Boys (2-0) def. Central Boys (0-2): 7-2

Boys Singles:

John Mitchell (C) def. Dylan Millwood; 8-5
George Ozborn (H) def. Jeff Chastain; 8-5
Cory Phillips (H) def. Dylan Cotter; 8-4
Myles Goforth (H) def. Walt Braley; 8-2
Eric Barr (H) def. Alex Henry; 8-2
Alex Shuford (H) def. Nick Santos; 9-8 (7-5)


Boys Doubles:

Mitchell/Jones (C) def. Millwood/Goforth; 8-2
Ozborn/Phillips (H) def. Chastain/Braley; 8-4
Barr/Nathan Terrell (H) def. Andrew Vickers/Jordan Mallett; 8-3


Up Next: Monday, March 28 @ Chattanooga Christian School. Perennial powerhouse CCS will be a very tough opponent. We did not play them last year, but look for them to be very strong 1-6 on the girls and boys side.

Season Opener Ends in a Split

It was touch and go there for a few minutes around 2:45pm. About a half dozen of us had pretty much rolled most of the water off of all six courts at Rivermont Park and we started to feel a few sprinkles. I kept telling the kids to pretend it wasn't raining and to finish rolling the big wet spots. That seemed to work. By three o'clock, I had the top six boys and girls warming up and we never thought about rain again.

I really appreciate all the players who got to the courts early and helped me get them ready to go, could not have happened without you. I also appreciate all the parents who got your kids to the match, even though I threw you a last minute curve ball and had you take them someplace completely different than you expected.

As for the matches, they went almost-kinda-sorta the way I expected. I thought our boys had a good chance, and they proved me right. We took five of six singles matches, which meant that we had the match won heading into doubles. I sat my top two players down, and we still managed to take two of three from the Lions in Doubles. Big congratulations to Myles Goforth who managed to win both his singles and doubles matches today in his Hixson debut. Jae Yoo teamed up with Myles at #2 doubles, also swept the day with a win at #6 singles. Alex Shuford and Russ Rebennack, who are my #4 doubles team, got a quality varsity win at #3 doubles.


On the girls side, I thought the defending District Champs would have a much tougher team. So I told my girls they were in for some tough matches. As it turned out, The Lionettes were not nearly as good as I had projected, but they were still good enough to take care of business. We did get some notable wins: Norah Soufraji (back from our 2009 team!) won at #3, Haylee Gossett #5 and Corynne Schannuth #6. Both Haylee and Corynne are freshmen, so this marks their high school debut-- nice way to start the career!

I thought the girls could have played a little better strategically in doubles, but that's something we can work on. I know it doesn't feel great to lose, but we'll see this team again on April 27th, and I promise we will do better.

Here are the Results:


Red Bank Girls (1-0) Defeat Hixson Girls (0-1): 6-3

Singles:

Amy Metcalfe (RB) def. Candace Cline, 8-0
Kristen Camp (RB) def. Whitney Clack, 8-4
Norah Soufraji (H) def. Claire Cox, 8-4
Katie Lawson (RB) def. Michelle Phillips, 8-2
Haylee Gossett (H) def. Amee Desai, 8-1
Corynne Schannuth (H) def. Sadie Kerley, 8-3

Doubles:

Metcalf/Lawson (RB) def. Cline/Clack, 8-1
Camp/Cox (RB) def. Soufraji/Gossett, 8-3
Desai/Kerley (RB) def. Abby O'Rear/Lydia Lindsey, 8-4

Hixson Boys (1-0) def. Red Bank Boys (0-1): 7-2

Singles:

Dylan Millwood (H) def. Mark Colbert, 8-5
Nic Gagliano (RB) def. George Ozborn, 8-3
Cory Phillips (H) def. Jonathan Campbell, 8-1
Myles Goforth (H) def. Saagar Desai, 9-7
Eric Barr (H) def. Matthew Smith, 8-5
Jae Yoo (H) def. Christian Brown, 8-1

Doubles:

Colbert/Desai (RB) def. Phillips/Barr, 8-6
Goforth/Yoo (H) def. Gagliano/Adam Ryder, 8-4
Alex Shuford/Russ Rebennack (H) def. Brown/Tanner Bailey, 8-1

Up Next: Thursday, March 17 @ Chattanooga Central. Another important district match and due to a school-related band function, we are not going in at full strength. Last year we only played the girls once, so I have no idea what to expect. The Central boys had a very good #1 player, but not much else. I do remember that they seemed much better the second time we played them, so I'm guessing we're in for a dog fight. Chattanooga Central plays their home matches at Lakeside Park. Here are the directions:

Directions to Lakeside Park (Chattanooga Central’s Home Courts)

Take Hwy 153 South (Toward Hamilton Place) to Exit 5A (Hwy 58 North) Stay on 58 for a little over a mile, until you see the Taco Bell on the Right. There’s a traffic light just beyond the restaurant at Oakwood—Take a RIGHT. Stay on Oakwood for approximately half a mile through a four way stop. Take the next LEFT at Swann Road. Almost immediately you will see the Lakeside Park ball fields and then the tennis courts just beyond on the left side of the Road. There’s a big sign that says “Lakeside Youth Sports Complex” in the parking lot!