Well we did it. I told the girls at the beginning of the season LAST year, that this would be the year all their hard work would culminate in a championship. I'll be honest, there were times this year that I did not think we were going to pull it off. We had two nail-biter matches earlier this season against East Hamilton and Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences. We managed to win both of those by the same 5-4 score. Today we were meeting the Patriots for the second time.
Because CSAS had beaten East Hamilton, I knew heading into today's match that if our girls won, we would clinch the District Championship. The question was, did the girls need to know? Tricky. Do these teenage girls need any more pressure on them to do well? Or, would that knowledge provide a spark?
I told them.
They responded with the best play I've seen all year. Coach Scott and I had already agreed that we would forgo doubles today if either team won five matches in the singles. Since we battled to a 5-4 win the last time we played and split singles right down the middle, I fully expected to play doubles today. That is not what happened.
Whitney Clack, who lost the last time we played CSAS, was off the court first with a big 8-1 win in the #1 slot. When she finished, Hixson was up on two courts (#2 and #3), but down on the remaining three courts (#4, #5 and #6). Michelle was the next off the court, disposing of her opponent rather easily. Then things got interesting.
Emily Gilreath (#3) who got off to a great start and was up 5-2, had to weather a surge from her opponent. Haylee Gossett (#4) was down 2-5. Corynne Schannuth was on serve, but every time they changed over, she was down by 1. Maggie Ozborn (#5) was the next one off the court, and it was the first match that hadn't gone our way. Hixson 2, CSAS 1--things were not looking good.
On Emily's court, they changed sides and CSAS had pulled to within one game: 5-4, Hixson still leading. Haylee's court changed over, and it was now CSAS 6-3. Corynne, however, had broken serve and was up 5-4. I started to breathe a little easier. I figured if we could get two of those remaining three singles, we would take care of business in the doubles.
Again, something remarkable happened.
Emily won two straight games and was up 7-4. Corynne held onto her one break lead. Haylee won two games, and suddenly I started to feel like we might not need doubles afterall. That is exactly what happened. All three of those seeds, ended up winning, and the Hixson girls clinched their first District Championship since 2001.
Here are the full results:
Hixson Girls def. CSAS Girls 5-1
Girls Singles:
Whitney Clack (H) def.Kirsten Johnson 8-1
Michelle Phillips (H) def.Yasmine Foster 8-2
Emily Gilreath (H) def. Sneha Mahesh 8-5
Haylee Gossett (H) def. Cadence Camp 9-7
Katie Foster (C) def. Maggie Ozborn 8-3
Corynne Schannuth (H) def. Alicia Lee 8-6
Doubles not needed.
Hixson Girls' Record:
10-4 (Overall); 9-0 (District 6-A/AA)
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