JASPER — As the sun beat down on the tennis courts at Jasper High School, the Columbus North girls tennis team couldn’t get much momentum going at four of the five positions against the host Wildcats.
Eleventh-ranked Jasper won four matches in straight sets to claim a 4-1 semistate victory against the No. 14 Bull Dogs, ending North’s hopes of qualifying for state as a team.
“Jasper is a very good team, and we knew that going in,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “I thought we matched up against them fairly well. Whether it was the nerves, whether it was the heat, it seemed like it was bothering some of the girls today, and I think that affected us today because we threw in a lot of double-faults. Maybe it was just the pressure and the tension of the Jasper crowd and everything going on around us.”
The Bull Dogs (15-6) will, however, be sending a doubles duo to the Individual Doubles State Finals. Senior Madelyn Sanders and sophomore Eva Chevalier beat Jasper’s Caroline Theil and Olivia Yarbrough 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 doubles to remain unbeaten in the postseason.
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Sanders and Chevalier trailed 4-1 in the second set before rallying to win the final five games.
“That was a tough match,” Chevalier said. “They were really good, and we played awesome, and I feel so excited to go to state.”
The Singles and Doubles State Finals are June 8-9 at Park Tudor High School. Columbus East’s Megna Chari and Kathryn Hodzen also are alive in the doubles tournament and will play in the regional Saturday at Bedford North Lawrence.
Leading 5-4 in the second set, Sanders and Chevalier led four match points slip away before finally capitalizing on the fifth.
“We definitely came out on the court ready to play,” Sanders said. “It was hot, so it was a tough mindset to be in. We went through some rough times during the match, but we ended up being able to pull it out.”
Unfortunately for North, Jasper (17-4) already had built a 3-0 lead by that time. The Wildcats’ Josie Yarbrough blanked Jaline Tay 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles, Maggie Getzin and Aubrey Williams beat Ali Bergman and Servane Clouteaux 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles and Suchi Vandaru topped Shweta Srinivasan 6-3, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.
The Bull Dogs then picked up their lone point from Sanders and Chevalier.
“At No. 1 doubles, they battled and came back and did a great job,” Hammel said. “I’m really proud of them. They are a good team, and they’ve had a great year so far this year. Unfortunately, the team wasn’t able to make that next step for the state.”
The final match to be decided was at No. 1 doubles. Jasper’s Sarah Monesmith held off Yijiang Zhao 6-2, 6-4.
Zhao played almost evenly with Monesmith after falling behind 5-0 in the first set.
“We played some good tennis, but we can definitely play much better than what we did,” Hammel said. “We just got down and never recovered in some of those matches. We just got beat by a better team.”
