Notre Dame's Danika Dorris makes a return during her match against Christian Academy of Knoxville's Holly Chastain at Spring Fling in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on Wednesday, May 23, 2012.Class A/AA boys' state championshipUNICOI COUNTY 4, COLLEGEDALE 2Singles: Pascal Koch (UC) def. Mike Sintak, 6-1, 6-1; Reed Jackson (UC) def. Conner O'Brien, 6-4, 6-1; Matt Holka (UC) def. Boston Londis, 6-1, 7-5; Michael Chung (CA) def. Conly Shults, 6-2, 6-2; Austin Lee (CA) def. Nic Chambers, 6-0, 6-0.Doubles: Kock/Jackson (UC) def. Sintak/O'Brien, 8-1.Records: Unicoi 11-0; Collegedale 17-4.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The Collegedale Academy tennis Eagles soared to new heights during the 2012 season. They claimed the District 5-A/AA and Region 3 titles and became the school's first team to compete in a state tournament.
Yet they weren't able to reach their ultimate goal.
The Eagles fell 4-2 to Unicoi County in the Class A/AA state championship match at the Old Fort courts. They won at Nos. 4 and 5 singles but fell at the top three singles and No. 1 doubles.
Unicoi (11-0) featured Pascal Koch, a German exchange student. The left-hander won in singles and doubles, dropping only three games in the two matches.
"By far, he's the best that we've seen all season," Collegedale coach Joe Chung said.
The Eagles got victories from Michael Chung and Austin Lee, but the Blue Devils' Koch, Reed Jackson and Matt Holka got wins, which has been the pattern all season for Unicoi.
"We knew in February that we were going to have a good team," coach Michael Smith said. "We had some guys that played in a lot of tournaments, and I knew we'd be good. We relied on our top three players to be our three points, and they've stepped up all year.
"We needed a win at No. 2 doubles to beat CPA [in the state semis], but it was an honor for us to be here and have to beat two good teams to win it all."
Collegedale will lose three players from its best season ever, as Boston Londis and Michael Chung have graduated and Mike Sintak was an exchange student from the Czech Republic. The Eagles will return Conner O'Brien and Austin Lee, who both won matches in the state tournament.
"We're disappointed to lose at the state tournament, but it was a great run," Coach Chung said. "We're proud of the guys for fighting to the very end and not giving up.
"Nobody expected us to get here, and I thought we represented very well."