Scots win county tennis title

By Adam Wire

April 19, 2008 11:55 pm

— ANDERSON — A little scoreboard-watching was all Highland’s girls tennis players needed to take Alexandria seriously in Saturday’s inaugural Madison County Tournament championship match.
They noticed that the Tigers defeated Anderson 3-2 on April 11, in a first-round match, then saw that they followed that up with a 4-1 semifinal win Monday over Pendleton Heights.
Alexandria still played the 13th-ranked Scots tough Saturday, but Highland dominated at three positions and pulled out a closer victory at another to take a 4-1 victory and win the inaugural county title.
The win improved the Scots to 9-0, while the Tigers fell to 6-2, but the competitive match left Highland impressed with their opponents.
“It’s really good to win it,” said sophomore Mercy Scott, Highland’s No. 2 singles player. “When (Alexandria) beat Anderson, we didn’t think we were going to wipe them out. They were a good team.”
Scott had arguably the easiest match of any of her teammates, stopping the Tigers’ Abbe Cox by a 6-3, 6-0 score, but Scott said even that match wasn’t as easy as the score indicates.
“She was a good player,” Scott said of Cox. “In the second set, I slowed it down, made her run and played my game, and that’s what really helped me ... not trying to play more or less than I can do.”
The Scots’ Alex Hammel defeated Melissa Montgomery at No. 1 singles, 6-4, 6-0. Alexandria’s lone point came from No. 3 singles, where Alicia Pratt defeated Abby Beard, 6-2, 6-4.
“Alicia was very consistent throughout the day,” Tigers coach Matt DeVault said. “She kept the ball in play, which is typical for No. 3 singles players. I felt like we could at least make (Highland) work at all five positions, and we did.”
The Tigers’ No. 2 doubles team of Megan Wright and Bri Foster took Emily Jones and Michaela Hammel to a third-set tiebreak before winning the match, 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. The Scots’ Kelsey McFadden and Ashlan Allison cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles.
Longtime Highland coach Jim Hostetler was pleased with his team’s mental approach to Saturday’s match.
“I told the girls that Alexandria is always very competitive,” Hostetler said. “It doesn’t matter who they have on the court. Their boys and girls programs are always competitive. You’ve got to be on your toes and play them tough, and they did a good job of that. I was most pleased that we didn’t let down.”
While both teams have goals that go well beyond a county championship, both believed their play in the tournament will help them toward their regular-season, conference and state tournament contests.
“I told our girls, if we can hit like we did (Saturday) against a quality team like this, we’ll be very formidable in the (Central Indiana) Conference,” DeVault said. “I think our girls understand that this team is 13th in the state for a reason. We hung with them, and that makes me feel good about where our program’s going.”