State Tennis Finals Story

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McCallie Tennis Makes It a Four-Peat

 

For McCallie tennis coach Eric Voges, the sweetest word in the English language as of late Wednesday afternoon was ???Out!'' as uttered by Tornado senior - and his son - Sawyer Voges, signifying the state championship clinching point as McCallie defeated Webb, 4-3, for the TSSAA D-II AA tennis title.

 

Voges and Thomas Fanjoy won at No.2 doubles against Brian Carman-Trey Hatcher, 8-5, to give the senior-laden Tornado squad its fourth straight state crown.

 

???It was the best 'out call' ever,'' said coach Voges with a smile referring to his son's call of a Webb return that went wide.

 

The Voges-Fanjoy tandem opened the 8-game pro set with a 6-1 lead, only to see Webb close it to 7-5 before Voges served out the match.

 

How appropriate that Voges, whose grandfather was in the stands, served for the win on the 30th anniversary of his dad's state doubles title in 1979.

 

???I was glad to see us build a big lead (6-1) because I thought Sawyer and Thomas might get tight (which they did) in trying to close it out,'' said coach Voges.

 

???In the final couple of games I told them to relax and hit out on the ball and not be tentative,'' coach Voges stated. ???Sawyer was serving well the past two days.''

 

With Voges serving at 40-30, the crowd (approximately 200) was as quiet as the fans at the 18th green on a Masters' Sunday afternoon in the early 1960s with Arnold Palmer putting from 20 feet for the green jacket.

 

Voges' call pierced through the late afternoon silence and joyous cheers erupted from the McCallie faithful.

 

Eight Titles Claimed: Other schools having much to celebrate in winning state championships were Science Hill boys and girls (D-I AAA), University School Nashville boys' and girls' (D-II A boys), University School Jackson girls' (D-I A-AA), St. George's girls' (D-II A) and Hutchison (D-II AA).

 

Starting with five singles, Webb went up 2-0 with straight set wins from Brandon Fickey (No.1) and Carman (No.5).

 

McCallie then pulled even at 2-2 with triumphs by Fanjoy (No.2) and Voges (No.3).

 

The pivotal singles match was at No.4 as William Disterdick edged Reid Walling, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8), closing it out on his third match point. Walling had beaten Disterdick in the region finals as Webb stopped McCallie, 5-2. Carman and Hatcher had also beaten Fanjoy-Voges in the region match.

 

Four-Peat: The last time McCallie won four straight TSSAA state titles was 1990-93 as the wrestling team claimed consecutive traditional and duals championships ... The McCallie swim program has won seven straight state (non-TSSAA) crowns twice; 1974-80 under coach John Pataky ... 1998-2004 under coach Stan Corcoran.

 

Tennis Record: Memphis University School (MUS) has the state tennis record for consecutive titles at five;1998-2002.

 

Tennis Alumni: Former McCallie tennis players representing the past four decades were on hand to support the current Blue Tornado; Jack Webb and Chet LeSourd (1970s), Park Morris (1980s), Jeff Clark (1990s), David Henry and Alex Harris (2000s) ... and, of course, Eric Voges (late 1970s-early 1980s) ??¦ Will Fanjoy (Thomas' dad) was also on hand for the past two days ... He played varsity basketball for the Big Blue with Webb ??¦ Clark was a member of coach Voges' first state title in 1991.

 

Nine Tornado Titles: McCallie has won eight TSSAA state net championships: 1976-77-91-94-2006-07-08-09 ??¦ plus a non-TSSAA crown in 1932.

 

3-All Point: McCallie won four of seven 3-3 points (game point) at No.2 doubles

 

Webb Moving: Webb, USJ and Evangelical Christian will move to D-II A for the 2009-2010 school year.

 

Cookies: Thomas Fanjoy's mom made some home made cookies for the team, but coach Voges told the team no cookies until a state title was in hand.

 

Eight Seniors: McCallie graduates eight seniors ??¦ only two ??“ Chris Schlabach and Fanjoy ??“ played in the 2008 state meet ??¦ ???I am happy for our six senior starters who won this year ??¦ four of them waited their turn to win a title and they went out and did it,'' stated Voges.

 

Big Numbers: In the past four years McCallie has won four state titles, two state doubles championships, three Nashville Carter Invitationals and a pair of Chattanooga Rotary tourneys, plus nine straight wins against rival Baylor. The team record is 56-5 with a 35-match home win streak that went from April 2005 to May 2009.

 

The four year run with bookend state championships 1991 to 1994 produced a 58-15 record.

 

McCallie 4, Webb 3

 

Singles:

 

#1 Brandon Fickey (W) d. Chris Schlabach, 7-5, 6-2

 

#2 Thomas Fanjoy (McC) d. Chris Haydek, 6-3, 6-3

 

#3 Sawyer Voges (McC) d. Trey Hatcher, 6-3, 6-3

 

#4 William Disterdick McC) d. Reid Walling, 6-4, 7-6 10-8

 

#5 Brian Carman (W) d. Nathan Winters, 6-4, 6-0

 

Doubles

 

#1 Fickey-Walling (W) d. Schlabach-Disterdick, 8-5

 

#2 Carman-Hatcher (W) d. Fanjoy-Voges, 8-5

 

D-I AAA: Science Hill swept the boys' and girls' titles and is the first public school to win both AAA crowns in the same year since Dobyns-Bennett did it in 2004.

 

The boys (16-1) handed Brentwood (11-1) its first loss of the season for their third title in a row.

 

In was drama at high noon in the girls' match as SH defeated White Station, 4-3. In the 5 singles/2 doubles playoff format, White Station had its usual four player lineup ??“ the team had won the district, region, substate and state semis without two players who chose studies over a run at the state title ??“ and trailed 3-2 after singles. The undermanned Spartans pulled even at 3-3 with an 8-1 win from Lauren Thomas and Maya Smith at No.2 doubles.

 

White Station's previously unbeaten No.1 team of freshmen Kasey Spilman-Kayla Jones were up 7-4 in the 8-game pro set, but couldn't hold the lead.

 

Alison Storie and Catherine of Science Hill then rallied to force a tie-breaker which they won 7-5.

 

???It's a dream come true to win both team titles,'' said Hilltoppers coach Pete Zanni.

 

???The players are not just good tennis players, but good people and they bought into the program's philosophy and now see that the championships are worth the hard work,'' he stated

 

D-II AA Girls': Hutchison (14-0) defeated Webb, 4-2, to claim its first state title in girls' tennis.

 

The Sting had straight set wins from Hayly Humphries (No.1), Caroline Orr (No.3) and Lee Leevell (No.5) before Maggie Donoghue rallied to defeat Megan Conley, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, in a marathon match for the state clinching fourth team point

 

???The girls' put in the time and hard work and made sacrifices and the state championship trophy is the fruit of their labor,'' said coach Phil Chamberlain.

 

???The players had 6 a.m. workouts before school, plus the regular afternoon practices and again on weekends,'' he stated.

 

Three Sisters: The Leavell sisters form half the starting line-up for Hutchison ??¦ Lee plays No.4 singles, while freshman twins Maggie and Neely are at Nos. 4 and 6..

 

Their mother, the former Janet Wepfer, played No.1 for Hutchison in 1978 and then earned the first women's tennis scholarship to Vanderbilt.

 

D-II A: St. George's girls' defeated University School of Nashville, 4-2, in the finals a day after stopping defending champ St. Andrews'Sewanee, 4-3.

 

USN claimed the boys' title with a 4-0 win against Lausanne.

 

D-I A-AA: University School of Jackson claimed its third A-AA boys' state title in the past four year with a convincing 4-0 win against defending champion Knoxville Catholic, 4-0.

 

The USJ girls' won their first title since 1998 with a 4-3 win against Christian Academy of Knoxville.

 

 

 

 

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net