Can't Beat the Heat.

Another first for me today in my short tenure at Hixson. We had our first Junior Varsity Match. It was just the girls, but I can't help but think we've come a long way baby. Last year I was forfeiting matches because I couldn't get six girls to show up for varsity matches, and today I had seven show up for a JV match.

Unfortunately, it was a very hot day. I think it felt even worse because we've had such cool temperatures recently. I had two girls who suffered some mild, heat related symptoms. I'll take a few minutes out of our practice time next week to discuss hydration. Hopefully, this won't happen again. Due to the heat, some of the singles matches were shortened to six games.

So a lot of girls got some much needed experience today-- seven to be exact. Technically, I have eight girls on the Junior Varsity team. Two of them, however, were unable to play due to prior commitments. Big thanks to Corynne Schannuth for filling in on short notice for Dista Rahyu. Corynne plays #5 on the varsity, but played #1 for the JV today. I needed seven players, because that's how many I thought I would have when I talked to Coach Webb earlier in the week.

So playing a program as deep as CCS, I hope my girls realize just how much they have to learn. I saw some good playing from just about all of my girls, but I also saw quite a few cringe-worthy moments. We'll talk about it next practice (Wednesday) and see what we can do to get better.

Here are the results:

CCS JV Girls def. Hixson JV Girls 10-0

Singles:

Kruesi Brock def. Corynne Schannuth 6-4
Sarah Smith def. Abby O'Rear 8-2
Candace Reagan def. Amanda Garletts 3-0 (retired)
Kathryn Bosshardt def. Lydia Lindsey 6-1
Beverly Samples def. Kindall Billingsley 8-2
Merces Reynolds def. Cicely McCoy 6-1
Katheryn Hoffecker def. Meagan Dagnan 8-6

Doubles:

Brock/Bosshardt def. Schannuth/O'Rear 8-5
Reagan/Mallory Padgett def. Garletts/Lindsey 8-2
Smith/Samples def. Billinglsey/McCoy 8-1

Up Next for the JV: Saturday, April 23 @ Signal Mountain. Just like CCS, Signal Mountain has a very deep team, it should be another tough one.

Rough Day.

I'm scratching my head a little bit tonight. I fully expected to get a win today from my girls, and we almost pulled it off even while missing my #2 seed. A BIG "Way To Go!" to Abby O'Rear (pictured above) who got two varsity wins for the girls in singles and doubles. Abby found out about two hours before our scheduled match time that she would be playing in the number six slot in singles and the three slot in doubles, and she handled it beautifully. There were a couple of close matches in singles that got away from us, but we still had a chance with our #2 doubles team on the court and Hixson and CSAS tied at 4 wins apiece. Corynne and Haylee lost a match that looks like a blowout on paper (final score 2-8) but it was not for lack of effort. Down 2-5, the next three games all went to deuce. As you may or may not know, we play No-Ad scoring in High School Tennis, so at deuce the next point wins. It could have just as easily been 5-5, then who knows? Instead, the Lady Patriots won those three crucial points and the match was over. I told them that they should get a chance to play the same girls again on April 28. I think they'll be ready to even the score.

On the boys side of things, BIG thank-you to Jae Yoo and Eric Barr for getting a win at #3 doubles and keeping CSAS from scoring a shutout. To be honest, I'm a little excited by the results. Many of the matches were close. This is the defending District 6-A/AA championship team from last year that lost one guy from their top six. I was expecting to get blown out. Heck, our #2 doubles team snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, as they were up 5-2 before dropping 6 of the next 7 games. George Ozborn and Eric Barr battled ferociously against their opponents in singles. Both of those matches could have gone the other way with a few breaks. I guess my point is, we have three weeks before we see this team again. CSAS is not untouchable. It's up to our players to decide if they are going to close the gap.

Here are the results:

Girls Singles:

Candace Cline (H) def. Maria Ally 8-3
Cindy Omaza (C) def. Michelle Phillips 8-3
Allie Emmett (C) def. Haylee Gossett 8-5
Corynne Schannuth (H) def. Kelsey Williams 8-2
Sadie Bradshaw (C) def. Kayla Morgan 8-6
Abby O'Rear (H) def. Maylasia Burgers 8-3

Girls Doubles:

Ally/Ormaza (C) def. Cline/Phillips 8-6
Emmett/Williams (C) def. Gossett/Schannuth 8-2
Morgan/O'Rear (H) def. Bradshaw/Burgers 8-4

CSAS Boys def. Hixson Boys 8-1

Boys Singles:

Jackson Lenoir (C) def. Dylan Millwood 8-1
Ian Derthick (C) def. George Ozborn 8-5
Andrew Bell (C) def. Cory Phillips 8-3
Alex Evers (C) def. Myles Goforth 8-4
Raja Moughrabi (C) def. Eric Barr 8-6
Chandler Custer (C) def. Jae Yoo 8-3

Boys Doubles:

Lenoir/Derthick (C) def. Millwood/Goforth 8-3
Bell/Evers (C) def. Ozborn/Phillips 8-6
Barr/Yoo (H) def. Moughrabi/ Kolby Kendrick 8-4

Records:

Hixson Girls: 2-6 (Overall); 2-3 (District)
Hixson Boys: 4-3 (Overall); 3-2 (District)

Up Next: Monday, April 11 Vs. Ooltewah @ HOME. The Owls of Ooltewah always seem to have good team on the boys and girls side. I expect this year to be no different.

Taking Care of Business.

Our second match up with Chattanooga Central this season, and the scores ended up exactly the same. Both the Boys and Girls teams won 7-2 for a nice sweep. Lots of highlights on the day. I'd like to especially single out Dylan Millwood and Myles Goforth who have really started playing good doubles together over the last week or so, and won in the #1 doubles slot today. Really, all the boys are playing very good doubles. Just in case you haven't noticed, we've only lost one doubles match in our last three contests (8-1).

On the girls side, I hate to be a little negative on a day that the Lady Wildcats won seven of nine matches, but honestly, I think we could have beaten Central 9-0. Candace Cline got a good win today. She won 9-7 over a girl who beat her the first time we played the Purple Pounders this season.

In all we had eight players win both their singles and doubles matches, and since Mary Phillips (Cory & Michelle's Mom) took so many awesome pictures today, I thought I'd post pictures of all of my sweepers today. Here they are:


Candace Cline, #1 Singles & #1 Doubles



Michelle Phillips, #3 Singles & #3 Doubles



Haylee Gossett, #4 Singles & #2 Doubles


Kayla Morgan, #6 Singles & #3 Doubles


George Ozborn, #2 Singles & #2 Doubles


Cory Phillips, #3 Singles & #2 Doubles


Myles Goforth, #4 Singles & #1 Doubles


Eric Barr, #5 Singles & #3 Doubles


Jae Yoo, probably would have gotten a sweep today (he won at #3 doubles), but with the overall victory already secured, I asked him if I could sit him down to give some one else some varsity singles experience. True team player!


Here are the results:


Hixson Girls def. Central Girls 7-2

Girls Singles:

Candace Cline (H) def. Autumn Baker 9-7
Christie Loden (C) def. Whitney Clack 9-7
Michelle Phillips (H) def. Dora Harper 8-4
Haylee Gossett (H) def. Tiffany Murray 8-4
Erin Jones (C) def. Corynne Schannuth 8-6
Kayla Morgan (H) def. Lauren Belcher; 8-4

Girls Doubles:

Cline/Clack (H) def. Baker/Harper 9-7
Gossett/Schannuth (H) def. Loden/Murray 8-3
Phillips/Morgan (H) def. Jones/Belcher 8-1

Hixson Boys def. Central Boys 7-2

Boys Singles:

John Mitchell (C) def. Dylan Millwood; 8-3
George Ozborn (H) def. Alex Henry 8-4
Cory Phillips (H) def. Jeff Chastain 8-4
Myles Goforth (H) def. Blake Ragsdale 8-3
Eric Barr (H) def. Dylan Cotter 8-6
Walt Baley (C) def. Nathan Terrell 8-6


Boys Doubles:

Millwood/Goforth (H) def. Mitchell/Henry 8-4
Ozborn/Phillips (H) def. Chastain/Baley 8-1
Barr/Jae Yoo (H) def. Ragsdale/Cotter 8-3

Records:
Hixson Girls: 2-5 (Overall); 2-2 (District)
Hixson Boys: 4-2 (Overall); 3-1 (District)

Up Next: Thursday, April 7 @ CSAS. There's good news and there's bad news. First the good news. The Lady Patriots seem to be in a rebuilding phase, and if our girls play their best, we should score another district win. The bad news: The defending boys, District 6-A/AA champions graduated one player from last year's lineup and he was their #5 seed. Our work is cut out for us!

Silverdale Girls Take Care of Business.

If you had asked me last Friday, if we would be able to get all four matches in this week, I would have said you were crazy. Seriously, I thought all the courts around here were going to like the one pictured above. With the exception of the boy's match with Silverdale, which was not the weather's fault, we did just that. Whew!

The girls had their best showing of the week today, by getting two wins in doubles. The Lady Seahawks were a little more stingy in singles, and none of our girls managed to win more than four games. Patience is one thing I need to preach next week, and with three days of practice, we will work on it. In fact, I can't think of a facet of the game that we can't improve upon.

Here are the results:

Silverdale Girls def. Hixson Girls 7-2

Singles:

Jessica Christensen (S) def. Candace Cline 8-2
Hannah Menche (S) def. Whitney Clack 8-4
Katie West (S) def. Michelle Phillips 8-2
Roxy Silvasy (S) def. Haylee Gossett 8-3
Molly Burns (S) def. Corynne Schannuth 8-3
Sarah Pardue (S) def. Kayla Morgan 8-0

Doubles:

Cline/Clack (H) def. Christensen/West 8-3
Menche/Silvasy (S) def. Gossett/Schannuth 8-4
Phillips/Morgan (H) def. Kristina Woods/Olivia Seay 8-6

Hixson's Record: 1-5 (1-2)

Up Next: Tuesday, April 5, Chattanooga Central @ Home. Our second and final meeting of the season with this District foe. We managed to sweep Central last time, hopefully we can stay focused and do it again.