Hurricanes Wash Away Wildcats.

First of all, I'd like to say that our boys played very well today. I was fully expecting for the East Hamilton boys to push us around, and that did not happen. In the end the Wildcats lost a tough one, 6-3. There were two close matches that maybe we should have closed out, at #2 doubles and #3 singles. We were ahead 6-3 in one of those matches, but we could not seal the deal. Sometimes these close ones are even harder to swallow, because this could have just as easily gone 5-4, in Hixson's favor.

The Girls matches on the other hand, were almost all blowouts in favor of the defending district champion, Lady Hurricanes. Our top five seeds only managed to win 10 games in singles. That's right: East Hamilton 40; Hixson 10. As you know, all you need is five wins to win a team match. East Hamilton got to five with relative ease. We have got to do better about fighting for games. I would like to point out that Haylee Gossett and Corynne Schannuth did keep us from suffering a shutout. They played a great doubles match against the same two girls who beat them in singles, proving that we have the talent to match up with East Hamilton, maybe we just need to find the heart.

Here are the full results.


East Hamilton Girls def. Hixson Girls 8-1

Singles:

Taylor Johnson (EH) def. Whitney Clack, 8-2
Hilleary Chandler (EH) def. Michelle Phillips, 8-0
Abigail Ware (EH) def. Haylee Gossett, 8-4
Katie Loftin (EH) def. Corynne Schannuth, 8-2
Sanna Peters (EH) def. Emily Gilreath, 8-2
Jessica Peters (EH) def. Lydia Lindsey, 8-6

Doubles:

Johnson/Chandler (EH) def. Clack/Phillips, 8-2
Gossett/Schannuth (H) def. Ware/Loftin, 8-4
Jordan Kaset/Carly Jones (EH) def. Gilreath/Maggie Ozborn, 8-2

Hixson Girls Record:
Overall 5-1; District 6A/AA 4-1


East Hamilton Boys def. Hixson Boys 6-3

Singles:

Dylan Millwood (H) def. Daniel Jung, 8-2
George Ozborn (H) def. Clark Templeton, 8-5
Bailey Lenoir (EH) def. Cory Phillips, 8-6
Ryan Williamson (EH) def. Kevin Nguyen, 8-3
David Templeton (EH) def. Jacob Lindsey, 8-2
Matthew Sayne (EH) def. Rivers DeFries, 8-1

Doubles:

Millwood/Ozborn (H) def. Jung/C. Templeton, 9-8 (7-4)
Lenoir/Sayne (EH) def. Phillips/Nguyen, 8-6
Williamson/D. Templeton (EH) def. Lindsey/DeFries, 8-0

Hixson Boys Record:
Overall 2-4; District 6A/AA 2-3

Hixson Splits Again on Beautiful Lee University Campus

First of all, big thanks to all the parents who drove to Lee University today for our match with the Cleveland Raiders. Hopefully it was worth the drive to watch some tennis on such a picturesque campus. The DeVos Tennis Center (Pictured Above) is really a splendid facility, and I'm glad we got to play there. It was my first time playing Cleveland since taking the job at Hixson, and I hope we can come back!

The Cleveland Girls won their region last year, but that team had five seniors. We caught the Lady Raiders in a rebuilding year, and our girls managed to win pretty convincingly, 6-3. Whitney Clack stayed perfect on the season in singles, but she and Michelle Phillips could not keep their streak alive in doubles. Haylee Gossett won both her singles and doubles, as did Lydia Lindsey.

Our boys had their chances. Dylan Millwood won in singles and doubles, but the only other win we got was at #4 singles, with Kevin Nguyen (Pictured Below) outlasting his opponent, 8-6. All in all, a great learning experience for our young players.



Here are the results:


Hixson Girls def. Cleveland Girls 6-3

Singles:

Whitney Clack (H) def. Katherine Cantrell 8-6
Maddie Ohlsson (C) def. Michelle Phillips 8-6
Haylee Gossett (H) def. Briley Moore 8-2
Mallori Terry (C) def. Corynne Schannuth 8-4
Lydia Lindsey (H) def. Ansley McCarley 8-4
Emily Davis (H) def. Heidi Barringer 8-2

Doubles:

Cantrell/Ohlsson (C) def. Clack/Phillips 8-6
Gossett/Schannuth (H) def. Moore/Terry 9-8 (9-7)
Lindsey/Kayla Morgan (H) def. McCarley/Barringer 8-1

Record:

Hixson Girls 5-0 (Overall); 4-0 (District 6A/AA)

Cleveland Boys def. Hixson Boys 6-3

Singles:

Dylan Millwood (H) def. Zach Barringer 8-6
Roy Callahan (C) def. George Ozborn 8-4
Kevin Hutchinson (C) def. Cory Phillips 8-5
Kevin Nguyen (H) def. Jack Gibson 8-6
Matthew Harris (C) def. Rivers DeFries 8-5
Brett Howard (C) def. Nicholas Rodgers 8-3

Doubles:

Millwood/Ozborn (H) def. Barringer/Callahan 8-6
Hutchinson/Gibson (C) def. Phillips/Nguyen 8-4
Harris/Howard (C) def. DeFries/Lindsey 8-3


Record:

Hixson Boys 2-3 (Overall); 2-2 (District 6A/AA)

Up Next: Only one match next week, but it's a doozy. We head to Standifer Gap a week from today to play East Hamilton. Neither of these teams lost anyone of significance from the teams that beat us twice last season. My girls are greatly improved, while my boys are a bit weaker. The East Hamilton Girls team, are the defending District Champs, so my girls will have to play their best to have a chance. Should be fun to watch!

Trip to Warner Park Ends in a Split.

First the good news.

But I'm going to be honest with you. If you had told me after our Red Bank Scrimmage (March 8) that we would be sitting here on March 20 and that my girls would still be undefeated, I would not have believed you. I do not know what happened that day, but these girls did not play well, and I was seriously worried about the rest of the season. They have proved me wrong-- the kind of wrong a coach loves to be, by the way!

With the exception of the top two seeds who are seniors, the Lady Patriots are a very young team. My girls aren't exactly veterans, but CSAS started two 8th graders and two Freshmen in their top six. This lack of experience really showed in doubles, as my girls swept all three doubles courts. Once they got to singles, the Lady Patriots were a little bit better, winning two of the six matches, and nearly winning a third. Hixson's Whitney Clack (Pictured Below) won a tiebreaker to win at the #1 singles spot. The match should not have been that close, as Whitney was up 7-4, and we all watched in horror as her opponent won the next four games, before Whit tied it up at 8-8-- Whew! Maggie Ozborn lost a close one, 6-8, but I thought both those girls were pretty evenly matched and neither of them ever had a big lead. Otherwise, there was very little drama on the day as far as the girls were concerned. Michelle Phillips, Haylee Gossett and Emily Gilreath all won their singles matches easily. Corynne Schannuth dug herself quite a hole at 2-5, and then fought back to make it respectable (losing 5-8).



On the Boys' side, quite a different story. We would have struggled to put games on the board for our side even at full strength. George Ozborn, who normally plays the #2 Seed, was out today with some sort of stomach bug. So any hopes of pulling off an upset were pretty much dashed from the start. Much like our boys dominated East Ridge yesterday, CSAS took care of business and won every single court. I did see some good tennis from our boys, but we were no match. I told our boys to try to learn from the other side, hopefully when we play them again, we'll be a little more prepared-- and maybe with George in the lineup, we might surprise them!


Here are the results:

Hixson Girls def. CSAS Girls, 7-2

Singles:

Whitney Clack (H) def. Cindy Ormaza, 9-8 (7-4)
Michelle Phillips (H) def. Maria Alley, 8-1
Haylee Gossett (H) def. Sneha Mahesh, 8-4
Kirsten Johnson (C) def. Corynne Schannuth, 8-5
Emily Gilreath (H) def. Lauren Emmett, 8-3
Katie Foster (C) def. Maggie Ozborn, 8-6

Doubles:

Clack/Phillips (H) def. Alley/Johnson, 8-5
Gossett/Schannuth (H) def. Ormaza/Emmett, 8-5
Gilreath/Ozborn (H) def. Foster/Cadence Camp, 8-4


Hixson Girls' Record:

4-0 (District 6A/AA); 4-0 (Overall)


CSAS Boys def. Hixson Boys, 9-0

Singles:

Jackson Lenoir (C) def. Dylan Millwood, 8-4
Ian Derthick (C) def. Cory Phillips, 8-1
Raymond Kim (C) def. Kevin Nguyen, 8-1
Raja Moughrabi (C) def. Jacob Lindsey, 8-2
Chandler Custer (C) def. Rivers DeFries, 8-3
Visaal Sivakumar (C) def. Nicholas Rodgers, 8-1

Doubles:

Lenoir/Moughrabi (C) def. Millwood/Phillips, 8-3
Derthick/Kim (C) def. Nguyen/Lindsey, 8-0
Custer/Sivakumar (C) def. DeFries/Rodgers, 8-2

Hixson Boyss' Record:

2-2 (District 6A/AA); 2-2 (Overall)

Up Next: Thursday against Cleveland at Lee University. Not sure what to expect as we have never played Cleveland since I've been the coach at Hixson. I would assume they are good, especially on the girls side.

Hixson Sweeps East Ridge.

Well as you can see from the above picture, which I took this afternoon, they are almost finished resurfacing courts #10, 11 & 12 at the Racquet Club of Chattanooga. They should be playable by the end of the week. Unfortunately, we had our first home match today. So instead of playing a the Racquet Club, we played over at the Old Hixson Middle School courts. Those courts are actually pretty nice, as they were resurfaced last summer. The problem is that there are no restroom facilities. We won't have another home match until after Spring Break. This was the only early home match I scheduled, because East Ridge was not sure where they would be playing their home matches.

Why, you might be asking? Well this is the first year East Ridge has fielded a team since the Spring of '08. We didn't even find out they were going to have a team until late January. Since they are in our district we had to schedule a home and an away match.

As I mentioned in my last post, first year programs are generally not going to be very competitive. Just about all of the Lady Pioneers are brand new to the sport, and even some of the boys. All in all, I think they did great, and I am so happy that East Ridge has a coach who's willing to spend some time with those kids on a court.

I also thought, under the circumstances, all of my players did a good job displaying good sportsmanship. Sometimes these kinds of lopsided matches can get unfriendly in a hurry. There was none of that today.

Here are the results:

Hixson Girls def. East Ridge Girls, 9-0

Girls' Singles:

Haylee Gossett (H) def. Ann Millard, 8-0
Corynne Schannuth (H) def. Ruby Haumbrick, 8-0
Emily Gilreath (H) def. Kayli McKee, 8-0
Lydia Lindsey (H) def. Jasmine Xayravong, 8-0
Maggie Ozborn (H) def. Sarah Burns, 8-0
Kayla Morgan (H) def. Kiana Bullard, 8-1

Girls' Doubles:

Gilreath/Lindsey (H) def. Millard/McKee, 8-0
Ozborn/Morgan (H) def. Haumbrick/Tara Crissman, 8-0
Emily Davis/Karina Iksanova (H) def. Xayravong/Burns, 8-0

Records:
Hixson 3-0 (Overall); 3-0 (District 6A/AA)
East Ridge 0-2 (Overall); 0-2 (District 6A/AA)


Hixson Boys def. East Ridge Boys, 9-0

Boys' Singles:

Dylan Millwood (H) def. Colton Cruse, 8-1
George Ozborn (H) def. Matt Whisenaut, 8-1
Cory Phillips (H) def. Cody Poe, 8-2
Kevin Nguyen (H) def. Robert Foster, 8-0
Jacob Lindsey (H) def. Will Holloway, 8-0
Rivers DeFries (H) def. Justin Hitchcock, 8-0

Boys' Doubles:

Phillips/Nguyen (H) def. Cruse/Whisenaut, 8-4
Ozborn/Lindsey (H) def. Foster/Holloway, 8-3
DeFries/Nicholas Rodgers (H) def. Poe/Hitchcock, 8-3

Records:
Hixson 2-1 (Overall); 2-1 (District 6A/AA)9
East Ridge 0-2 (Overall); 0-2 (District 6A/AA)

Up Next: At CSAS. The boys have their work cut out for them. This is the defending district champs, and they only lost one player from their top six. The girls will also have a fight on their hands, but I suspect if we play as well as I know we can, we could remain unblemished in District play.

Wildcats Split with Lions.

It seems like we are always battling the possibility of thunderstorms during our Spring season, but yesterday was pretty amazing. The storms were supposed to hit our area at about 3:30pm, which, coincidentally, was the time we were supposed to square off with one of our district rivals, Red Bank. About 15 minutes after 3:00pm, things got a little scary. The skies darkened a bit, and the wind picked up. Across the Tennessee River, which is visible from the Rivermont Courts where the Lions play their home matches, the heavens started lighting up. Our players were out on the courts warming up, so Coach Wagner and I pulled everyone off the courts and decided to wait it out.

I sat in my vehicle and reset my stopwatch every time I saw a lightning bolt. Sometimes my watch would get to about two minutes, but usually I would see a strike about once per minute. This went on for about an hour. Finally, the lightning stopped and we were able to start matches at about 4:45pm. Amazingly, we got almost no rain, so the courts were as close to bone dry as we could have possibly hoped.

After last week's scrimmage against Red Bank, I was skeptical about our chances. As it turned out, both my teams did better than I had hoped.

The girls won in convincing fashion. It didn't hit me until today how meaningful that victory is to our program. Since taking the job at Hixson, I have faced the Lady Lions twice per year, and not once have my girls come out on top-- 0-6, for those of you keeping score at home. I had four girls who were perfect on the day winning both their singles and doubles matches: Whitney Clack, Michelle Phillips, Haylee Gossett and Corynne Schannuth. Haylee and Corynne played an inspired match, going down 1-5, before prevailing 9-7. Kayla Morgan also stepped in at #3 doubles teaming with Emily Gilreath to allow my girls to sweep all three doubles points.

The Boys fought tooth and nail, and ended up coming up short, 3-6. We only got one point in the singles, but two other matches went to tiebreakers and another one was lost at 7-9. Dylan continued his perfect start to the 2012 season by winning his singles match at the #1 seed, and he and George Ozborn teamed up to win at the #1 doubles slot. Cory Phillips played great tennis all day long, coming up short in singles, losing in a tiebreak. In doubles, he shined as he and Kevin Nguyen outlasted their opponents 8-6. George also played one of the best matches I've ever seen him play, losing 7-9. We'll see Red Bank again in a little over a month, I am challenging my boys to seal the deal next time.

Here are the results:

Hixson Girls def. Red Bank Girls, 7-2

Singles:

Whitney Clack (H) def. Katie Lofton, 8-3
Michelle Phillips (H) def. Amee Desai, 8-4
Haylee Gossett (H) def. Lynn Tran, 8-2
Corynne Schannuth (H) def. Julia Reed, 8-6
Rachel Thornberry (RB) def. Emily Gilreath, 8-3
Orienne Gage (RB) def. Lydia Lindsey, 8-6

Doubles:

Clack/Phillips (H) def. Lofton/Thornberry, 8-2
Gossett/Schannuth (H) def. Desai/Tran, 9-7
Gilreath/Morgan (H) def. Orienne Gage/Alaire Gage, 8-5


Red Bank Boys def. Hixson Boys, 6-3

Singles:

Dylan Millwood (H) def. Nic Gagliano, 8-5
Mark Colbert (RB) def. George Ozborn, 9-7
Saager Desai (RB) def. Cory Phillips, 9-8 (7-1)
Jonathan Campbell (RB) def. Kevin Nguyen, 8-3
Matthew Smith (RB) def. Jacob Lindsey, 9-8 (7-2)
Adam Ryder (RB) def. Rivers DeFries, 8-3


Doubles:

Millwood/Ozborn (H) def. Gagliano/Smith, 8-5
Phillips/Nguyen (H) def. Colbert/Campbell, 8-6
Christian Brown (RB) def. DeFries/Nicolas Rodgers, 8-2

Up Next: At Home against East Ridge. This is the first year East Ridge has had a program since I've been at Hixson. Usually first year teams are not strong. We will see. Problem is, I'm not sure exactly where the match will be. Currently, three of my hard courts are being resurfaced. I hope to find out tomorrow. Possibilities: Racquet Club (utilizing some of the indoor courts), Champions Club or the Old Hixson Middle School courts. Stay tuned!

Boys and Girls Win At Chattanooga Central!

We could not have asked for a prettier day to kick off our High School Tennis season. It was unseasonably warm this afternoon at the Lakeside Sports Complex for our match against district rival, Chattanooga Central. Both teams were pretty well evenly matched. The Lady Wildcats won 6-3, while the Hixson boys edged out the Purple Pounders 5-4.

Lots of good stuff to talk about. First of all there were three matches on the girls' side that went to a tiebreaker. Unfortunately, Hixson came out on the wrong end of two of those. Lydia Lindsey (Junior), playing in her first varsity match at the #6 seed, won a nail-biter 10-8 in the tiebreak. She probably does not want me to remind her that she was actually up 6-3 in the tiebreaker and that she lost three consecutive points to let her opponent back in it! All water under the bridge though, as she did manage to prevail. Maggie Ozborn (Freshman) got her first varsity experience today as well, teaming up with fellow freshman, Emily Gilreath. They managed to take care of their opponents without needing a tiebreaker. Whitney Clack (Junior) and Michelle Phillips (Sophomore) won together in doubles and each won their singles matches. Corynne Schannuth (Sophomore) also took care of business at the #4 seed.

On the boys' side, it was touch and go there for awhile. My top three seeds all won their matches. Dylan Millwood (Senior) played exceptionally well and beat a player he was not able to beat last year. The only other boy to win in singles was Freshman Rivers DeFries, making his debut for the Varsity a sweet one. Heading into doubles, we only needed one win out of three. As a coach, I like my chances when that happens. Usually, I can relax at this point. Not this time. My #1 team was sent packing early, 1-8. Which meant I still had to win one match with two still on the court. When my first team came off the court, neither of my other two teams were in the lead. Thankfully, my #2 team, Dylan and Kevin Nguyen (Sophomore) were able to secure a victory, 8-6. Whew! I needed one win in doubles and that's all we got.

Here are the full results:



Hixson Girls def. Central Girls 6-3

Girls' Singles:

Whitney Clack (H) def. Autumn Baker 8-4
Michelle Phillips (H) def. Christy Loden 8-6
Alex Bonner (C) def. Haylee Gossett 8-5
Corynne Schannuth (H) def. Erin Jones 8-3
Tiffany Murray (C) def. Emily Gilreath 9-8 (8-6)
Lydia Lindsey (H) def. Dora Harper 9-8 (10-8)

Girls' Doubles:

Clack/Phillips (H) def. Baker/Bonner 8-6
Loden/Jones (C) def. Gossett/Schannuth 8-7 (7-1)
Gilreath/Ozborn (H) def. Murray/Lauren Belcher 8-5

Hixson Boys def. Central Boys 5-4

Boys' Singles:

Dylan Millwood (H) def. John Mitchell 8-2
George Ozborn (H) def. Jeff Chastain 8-1
Cory Phillips (H) def. Blake Ragsdale 8-6
Walt Braley (C) def. Kevin Nguyen 8-3
Andrew Vickers (C) def. Jacob Lindsey 8-4
Rivers DeFries (H) def. Kevin Chang 8-6

Boys' Doubles:

Mitchell/Chastain (C) def. Ozborn/Phillips 8-1
Millwood/Nguyen (H) def. Braley/Vickers 8-6
Ragsdale/Chang (C) def. Lindsey/DeFries 8-4

Up Next: At Red Bank on Friday, March 16. We just had a scrimmage against Red Bank last week and we know how tough this team is. In order for us to win on either to the boys' or girls' side we are going to all have to play our best tennis.

So It Begins!

Hello Folks,

I hope you all made it through yesterday's storms okay.

The Spring is flying by, and I don't think we will have Parent meeting this year. Instead, I will just try to contact each of you via this email. The most important bit of information you need is our schedule.

2012 Hixson Tennis Schedule:

Tuesday, March 6 - @ Rhea County, 4:00pm (Scrimmage)
Thursday, March 8 - @ Red Bank (Scrimmage)
Tuesday, March 13 - @ Chattanooga Central, 3:30pm
Thursday, March 15 - @ Red Bank, 3:30pm
Monday, March 19 - East Ridge @ Home, 3:30pm
Tuesday, March 20 - @ CSAS, 4:30pm
Thursday, March 22 - @ Cleveland, 4:00pm
Thursday, March 29 - @ East Hamilton, 3:30pm
Tuesday, April 10 - Chattanooga Central @ Home, 3:30pm
Wednesday, April 11 - @ Signal Mountain, 3:30pm
Monday, April 16 - East Hamilton @ Home, 3:30pm
Tuesday, April 17 - @ East Ridge, 3:30pm
Monday, April 23 - @ Chattanooga Christian, 3:30pm
Tuesday, April 24 - Red Bank @ Home, 3:30pm
Monday, April 30 - @ Notre Dame, 3:45pm
Tuesday, May 1 - CSAS @ Home, 4:30pm
Thu/Fri, May 3/4 - District Tournament (TBD)

In years past, the parents have organized a snack schedule. We have 17 members on the team plus 2 eighth graders (Alex Condra and Ethan Gossett) and 17 matches (including the District Tournament and two scrimmage dates). If I could have one parent volunteer to put the snack schedule together for this year that would be great. Let me know, and I'll give you contact info for all the parents.

Uniforms:

The uniforms are ready for purchase. We are again using the Sporty Chic Boutique at the Racquet Club. The girls uniform is $50 for the dress and an extra $10 if they need the undergarment (the girls should know who ordered this piece). You can buy the uniform any day this week at the shop (uniforms will not be needed for scrimmages). The boys uniform is $39. The boys decided to just purchase a top this year, so I will need for each boy to furnish his own pair of black shorts with pockets.

In addition, I would hope that all of the players have tennis-specific shoes to play-- NO RUNNING SHOES as running shoes are not designed for lateral stops and one can easily turn and ankle on the tennis court with the wrong shoes. The Front Runner on Hixson Pike is an excellent place to find a good pair of tennis shoes, and if you tell them you play for Hixson High they will give you a discount (I think 10%).

Fundraiser:

We are slated to work the concession at McKinley Arena on March 17. There will be two shifts, and I am requiring that all the players be available to work one or the other. I will also need a few parents to volunteer as well. As we get closer, I will give you details. Since we are doing this fundraiser, I am not going to charge a tennis fee this year.

Racquet Stringing:

With our season about to kick off, it is time to think about getting your child's racquet restrung. This is something that needs to happen at the very least once per year. Strings lose their resiliency and tension even if they are shoved in a closet in the offseason. If you bought a racquet that was prestrung, you have no idea when those strings were installed. Generally, the strings that come with a prestrung racquet are of the lowest quality, so I would suggest getting those replaced as soon as possible. I can restring your child's racquet for $20-- a considerable discount.