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Greenfield girls’ trio advances

Greenfield girls’ trio advances

Posted: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 12:00 pm

Greenfield was once again crowned the District 13A-AA tennis champions on Saturday in the district tournament held at Bethel University. It makes it the fifth consecutive year for the Lady Yellowjackets to win the singles title.
Greenfield’s No.1 player, Taylor Hatcher, defeated Lindsey Wambles of Camden 8-6 in the quarterfinals. Hatcher then beat Christina Cheeks of Milan 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals.
In the finals, Greenfield’s Hatcher blanked top-seeded Haley Hayes of Camden 6-0, 6-0.
Katie McCall won it in 2008, 2009, and 2010. In 2011, Emily Allen was the champion.
The other singles entry for the Lady ‘Jackets, Callie Croom, had a great tournament.
Croom upset Hunting-don’s No.1 player, Sam Milam, in the quarterfinals in a very close match 9-8 (7-5 in the tiebreaker). Croom played steady with few errors and the match was close all the way. She had to battle back after being down 3-0 early in the match.
In the semifinals, Croom continued her steady play against Hayes as she took the first set from Hayes 7-5. Hayes came back to win the second set 6-4. Hayes won 6-2 in the third set.
Greenfield head coach Bill McCall had a lot of praise for his No. 4 singles player after the grueling matches.
“It was a remarkable performance by Croom as she raised her tennis game this day to upset Milam and then pushed Hayes to three sets,” McCall said.
In tournament doubles, Greenfield’s Kendall Cook and Kalee Kesterson came in second to Milan’s Mary Joe Stinson and Emmy Merritt in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Cook and Kesterson, then freshmen, had upset the top-seeded Stinson and Merritt in last year’s tournament, but this year the Milan seniors pulled it off and won their first district title.
The Lady ‘Jackets duo had no trouble reaching the finals as they first beat Sarah McKinney and Emily Freel of Milan 8-0. Then in the semifinals, they beat McAllister and McDaniels of Camden 6-0, 6-1.
Greenfield’s other doubles team, Ashton Pence and Lauren Rush, who are the Lady Yellowjackets’ third best doubles team, got a tough draw as they had to play Milan’s Stinson and Merritt in the quarterfinals.
The Lady ’Jacket duo managed to take three games off the more experienced Milan girls before losing 8-3.
Greenfield’s finalists advance to the Region 7A-AA Tournament in Union City May 14-15.
Greenfield, as a team, will play at Union City 4 p.m. today for the Region 7A-AA team title. Published in The WCP 5.8.12