Lady Yellowjackets too perfect for Milan

Posted: Wednesday, April 4, 2012 12:00 pm

The weather was nearly perfect, and Greenfield was too.
On a sunny day in Milan with the temperature near 90 degrees, Greenfield stretched its mark to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the district with a 6-1 win over the Lady Bulldogs in prep tennis action.
The Lady Yellowjackets had beaten Milan back in March by the same 6-1 score. It was the same story again as Greenfield swept the top five singles matches and took the No. 2 doubles for its six points.
“Milan has a good team,” Greenfield head coach Bill McCall said. “I expected them to give us a tough match and they did. I warned my team that they had better be ready to play from the beginning because Milan would be fired up. Sure enough, we had to fight to overcome deficits in three singles matches early on before we finally won. The other two matches had lopsided scores in our favor, but the games were close. Our girls did a good job today and I’m proud of them.”       
In singles action, No. 1 Lady ‘Jacket, Taylor Hatcher, rolled over Mary Stinson 8-1.
At No. 2, Kalee Kesterson of Greenfield and Emmy Merritt of Milan played some great tennis with many points going 20 hits or more. In the end, Kesterson won this hard-fought match 8-6.
No. 3 Lady ‘Jacket Kendall Cook had a slightly easier time, winning 8-4 over Milan’s Jessica Cheeks.
At No. 4, Greenfield’s Lauren Rush battled back from being down early in her match to defeat Rachel Hart 8-6.
Callie Croom did not allow Milan’s Emily Freel a single game in their match, winning 8-0.
In doubles action, Greenfield’s top-seeded team of Hatcher and Rush found the going tough as Stinson and Merritt of Milan prevailed in a close match, 8-5.
Greenfield’s No. 2 team had it easier as Cook and Kesterson nearly blanked Lady Bulldogs’ McKinney and Hart 8 to 1.
In other singles matches that did not count in the overall match score, Lady ‘Jacket Ashton Pence at No. 6 beat Sara McKinney 8-6. At No. 7, Kristen Lusby and Milan’s Angelica Little played to a tie at 6-6 before Little won the tiebreaker.
Playing an opponent with a lot more tennis experience than her, Greenfield’s Ashley Mitchell fought hard and hit some good shots before losing 8-2 to Haley Blakely of Milan.
Three more doubles matches were played just for experience. The number of games needed to win was reduced to help the matches conclude.
At No. 3, Croom and Ashton Pence won 6-1.  A pair of Greenfield beginners, Kenly Goodwin and Chelsea Willis, got a taste of doubles action for the first time as they hit some good shots but lost 7-5 at No. 4.
The final doubles action featured beginners Darian Black and Shelby Smith of Greenfield in a tough 6-5 loss.
Greenfield returns to action today at Lexington in a non-district match.
Greenfield’s matches with Henry County and Huntingdon have new dates. Greenfield will now play Huntingdon on April 24 at 4 and Henry County the next day at 3 p.m.
Both matches are at the UT Martin courts. Published in The WCP 4.3.12