MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Ester Yang has taken baby steps to get to this point.
Now the St. Andrew's- Sewanee junior is one step away from a state championship.
Yang won two matches Thursday in the Division II-A girls' singles state tournament at the Adams Tennis Center and will compete for a state championship this morning. This comes after first-round losses in her first two trips to the state tournament.
Yang is the first SAS player to advance to a state-title match since Sadie Shackelford won the second of her back-to-back state championships in 2009. She will face Knoxville Webb's Lauren Yoon, who has two wins over Yang this year.
"I think I played quite well," Yang said. "It could be better, but the practice this week helped me a lot. My ground strokes got better, my volley got better, but mostly I gained a lot of confidence practicing every day.
"I'm going into tomorrow hoping to improve the score from the last time. I want to win, but even if I lose and play better, I'll be all right with that. I just hope to make the score closer."
Baylor's Drew Hawkins defeated Girls Preparatory School's Maddox Bandy 6-1, 6-3 in the Division II-AA state semifinals to advance to her third consecutive championship match. In search of her third straight title, Hawkins will face teammate Landie McBrayer, who rallied from down a set and 5-2 to defeat Ensworth's Maggie Cannata 3-6, 7-6, 7-5.
Baylor's Lilly Mooney and Lauren Carelli won twice in doubles and will face Hutchison's Catherine Owen and Grace Anne Dunavant for that title.
If Hawkins wins, she would be the fifth three-time champion in girls' state history and the second from Chattanooga, joining GPS's Claire Bartlett, who won three consecutive from 2006 to 2008.
The boys' doubles final will feature Baylor's Alec Kadrie and Benjamin Taverne against McCallie's Charlie Thel and Ryan Crump.
Baylor's Cooper Long, who came back from a pair of surgeries and a blood clot in his arm to play this season, fell in the state semifinals in three sets to Memphis University School's Frederick Danielson.
Long, who will have another surgery next week to repair a defect and try to prevent any more blood clots, will play for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga next season.
"I'm proud of Alec and Benjamin for battling their way into the final, and I'm also proud of how Cooper performed today," Baylor coach Ned Caswell said. "To see what Cooper has overcome this year to advance as far as he did is an impressive accomplishment."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.