Youthful GPS Edges Baylor, 4-3

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Thanks to heady play from an eighth and ninth grader, GPS defeated host Baylor, 4-3, Tuesday to earn the No. 1 seed in the East/Middle Region for the upcoming TSSAA D-II AAA tennis playoffs.

 

Ninth grader Emma McCallie won at No. 5 singles and served out the match at No. 2 doubles (with partner Bronte Goodhue), while eighth grader Aliza Williams served out the match at No. 1 doubles (with partner senior Sarah Evans) to gain the crucial doubles team point.

 

The win gives GPS (10-2) a home match in the state quarterfinals (May 21 or 22), while Baylor (8-2) and Harpeth Hall meet Friday at Baylor to determine the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds in the East/Middle.

 

“We were down in all three doubles matches and to come back and win at No. 1 and 2 was an unbelievable effort by the girls,’’ said GPS coach Sue Bartlett.

 

Baylor’s Kelly Scruggs and Harper Caswell were first off the court in doubles with an 8-6 triumph at No. 3 against Meredith Morrow-Lauren Schlabach.

 

The Red Raiders were then up 7-4 at No. 1 doubles and 6-3 at No. 2 before the Bruisers rallied.

 

No.2 Doubles: Goodhue and McCallie each lost their serve twice in the first nine games to trail 6-3 before both held serve sandwiched around a break to even the match at 6-6.

 

Goodhue had to hold a second time to make it 7-7, before the Bruisers broke McCall Morgan followed by McCallie’s match-clinching service game.

 

“We had problems hitting stroke for stroke with them with lots of pace so we hit some slices and took something off our returns and that helped turn it around,’’ said McCallie.

 

No. 1 Doubles: Baylor led 7-4, but GPS won the final five games for the win and the doubles point.

 

Trailing 7-4, Williams held serve twice, including at 8-7, clinching the match on a 40-30 no add point.

 

Serving at 6-7, Evans, who had lost her serve at 4-5, saved two match points to make it 7-7, followed by a break of Sarah Berchuck to set the stage for Williams to win it.

 

”We had match points at Nos. 1 and 2, but couldn’t close it out,’’ said Baylor coach Ned Caswell. “Give GPS credit as they played well in doubles.’’

 

With the doubles point in hand, the Bruisers had singles wins from Goodhue (No. 2), followed by Evans (No. 1) to go up 3-0.

 

McCallie’s straight set win (6-4, 6-3) at No. 5 against Katie Thornton clinched the team win.

 

Baylor then posted wins at No. 6 (Maggie Crumbliss), and three-set triumphs at No. 3 (Sarah Berchuck) and No. 4 (Harper Caswell) to make it 4-3.

 

15 Candles: GPS freshman Hannah Morrow celebrated her 15th birthday with an exhibition singles win at No. 7.

 

What’s The Score? At No. 5 singles, McCallie and Thornton had a disagreement on the score in the second game of the second set with McCallie up a set.

 

Serving 0-1, McCallie believed she was up 40-15 and won the fifth point for the apparent game. Thornton believed it was 15-40 and not game, but Williams trailing 30-40.

 

The scoring disagreement could not be resolved, so match referee Thorny Strang had them settle on 30-30 with Thornton winning the next two points, to gain the break to go up 2-0.

 

“The players agreed that four points had been played but could not come to an ageement on the score, so it went to 30-30 and played out from there,’’ said Strang.

 

McCallie admitted to being a little rattled after the ruling, but then broke back to trail 2-1.

 

“I was a little frustrated with having to go back to 30-all when I thought I had won the game,’’said McCallie. “But I was able to re-group and break back right away which helped.’’

 

McCallie broke Thornton twice more, including in the final game for the 6-4, 6-3 triumph.

 

Call The Score: Match referee Thorny Strang instructed all players before the match to call out the score before serving.

 

“There were a lot of distractions out there today, but we played through them and winning in a tough environment will hopefully help us in the playoffs,’’ said Bartlett who gave her team a day off on Thursday.

 

GPS 4, Baylor 3

Doubles

No. 1: Sarah Evans-Aliza Williams (GPS) def. Erika Marschall-Sarah Berchuck, 9-7

No. 2: Emma McCallie-Bronte Goodhue (GPS) def. Samantha Caswell-McCall Morgan, 9-7

No. 3: Kelly Scruggs-Harper Caswell (Bay) def. Meredith Morrow-Lauren Schlabach, 8-6

 

Singles:

No. 1: Sarah Evans (GPS) def., Samantha Caswell, 6-3, 6-4

No. 2: Bronte Goodhue (GPS) def. Erika Marschall, 6-2, 6-2

No. 3: Sarah Berchuck (Bay) def. Meredith Morrow, 6-0, 2-6, 6-3

No. 4: Harper Caswell (Bay) def. Aliza Williams, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

No. 5: Emma McCallie (GPS) def. Katie Thornton, 6-4, 6-3

No. 6: Maggie Crumbliss (Bay) def. Lauren Schlabach, 6-4, 6-4

 

Records: GPS (10-2), Baylor (8-2)

Location: Baylor

Official: Thorny Strang

Time of Match: 4 hours, 20 minutes

 

D-II East/Middle Individual Region: May 15-16 at McCallie for girls and boys … each school can enter two doubles teams and two singles players … eight singles players and eight doubles teams advance to the state quarters, May 27-28, in Murfreesboro ... the team semis and finals will be played May 25-26, also in Murfreesboro.

 

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