Manchester competed at the MAIS North State AAA tennis tournament in Greenville on Tuesday and both of the Mav’s girls’ doubles tennis teams advanced to the MAIS State tennis championship next Wednesday in Jackson.
Margaret Dent and Elizabeth Turner along with Nettie Taylor Barbour and Mary Sibley McGraw qualified to represent Manchester at the state finals in girls #1 doubles and girls #2 doubles, respectively. The M.A. girls’ tennis team finished in 4th place at North State, while the Mav’s boys’ team finished in 5th place. Heritage Academy won the girls’ championship with 8.5 points, with St. Joe with 6 points, St. Aloysius with 5.5 and Manchester with 5 with several other teams trailing M.A. The St. Joe boys’ team easily won the North State title with 10 points, with Heritage at 4.5 points, Starkville and Kirk with 3 points and M.A. and several other schools tied with 2 points.
“I am proud of the entire team, but especially pleased our girls’ doubles teams will have an opportunity to compete for a state championship,” commented M.A. coach Debbie Crisler. “Margaret and Elizabeth have a lot of big-match experience that should help them. Nettie Taylor and Mary Sibley are a new team, but they showed in Greenville they can win a big match against tough competition.”
At North State, Dent and Turner got a break in the first round when the Leake Academy team forfeited to them due to injury. Next, they faced St. Joe’s doubles team in the semi-finals in front of the home crowd for St. Joe. The winner of this match not only advanced to the North State championship match, but also qualified for the state tournament. Dent and Turner faced St. Joe’s Spencer Dennis and Olivia DeAngelo and hushed the crowd with an easy 6-1 win in the first set, but the second set was incredibly dramatic with the crowd growing louder with each point until the match stood tied at 6-6 and a tie-breaker to decide the second set. While the Mavs struggled to close out the match in the second set, they were all business in the tie-breaker and punched their ticket to State with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) victory. In the finals, Dent and Turner played Emily Howard and Haley Barker of Heritage Academy and lost a close 6-3, 6-4 match.
At #2 girls doubles, Barbour and McGraw started their play against Aubrey Claire Armstrong and Sydney Passons of Starkville Academy and were in a tight 3-3 first set until they won the next nine games to close out the win 6-3, 6-0. In their semi-final match, they also faced St. Joe in front of a partisan crowd, but the Mavs played lights out and scored a 6-2 win in the first set. Just when it looked like Barbour and McGraw would easily make the finals, they fell behind 1-4 in the second set but then managed to reel off four games in a row to take a 5-4 lead. St. Joe managed to knot the match at 5-5, but the Mavs won the next two games to close out the match with a 6-2, 7-5 win. The Mavs faced conference rival St. Al in the finals, but came up short 6-3, 6-1.
In one of the more exciting and well played matches of the day, Maverick Upton Hitt, an 8th grader, faced Nelson Howell of North Delta in a first round match at #2 boys’ singles. Howell, an 11th grader, had a powerful serve and established an early lead in the first set, but Hitt simply played the smarter match and displayed excellent net play. Howell hung on for a 7-5 first set win, but Hitt appeared to take control of the match in the second set winning it 7-5 setting up a decisive third set 10-point tie-breaker. Howell’s serve came up big for him in the tie-breaker and he survived with a 10-7 win in the tie-breaker resulting in a final score of 7-5, 5-7, 10-7.
MA’s Josie Coker dominated Mary Elliott Winfield of Starkville Academy in the first round of #2 girls singles with a 6-1, 6-0 victory; however, Coker then faced her toughest opponent of the season in St. Joe’s Sarah Hayek. Hayek, who easily won the #2 girls singles North State title, had an answer for most everything Coker sent her way and despite many long rallies defeated Coker 6-1, 6-1.
The Mav’s Cole Carpenter and Kinkead Dent picked up an impressive first-round win at #1 boys doubles with a 6-4, 6-2 score over Fields Major and Blake Peterson of Winston Academy. MA then ran into a buzz saw from St. Joe in the form of Craig Gardiner and Chris Adams. St. Joe proved too much defeating Carpenter and Dent 6-0, 6-0.
Harper Guthrie, who had a great season for the Mavs at #1 boys singles, ran into a different buzz saw when he faced Brandon Bane from Winston Academy in the first round. Guthrie played hard, but lost a tough match 6-2, 6-0 bringing his senior season to a close.
Finally, Nathan Carroll and Matt Carroll got a first-round victory by forfeit against Leake Academy, but also faced another dominant team from St. Joe featuring Chris Conway and Austin Perkins. The Mavs fell 6-0, 6-3, but managed to tie the second set at 3-3 before St. Joe pulled away for the win.
The Mavericks will travel to Jackson on Wednesday for the MAIS AAA State Tennis Championship with Dent, Turner, Barbour and McGraw representing Manchester. The M.A. girls are the defending state AAA champions.
