Columbus North and Hauser girls tennis advanced to the Columbus East sectional final after both teams won on Thursday.
North swept Brown County 5-0 while the Jets fate landed in the hands of sophomores Melanie Taylor and Kylie Lock at No. 2 doubles to knock off Columbus East in a 3-2 fashion. The final will be played at 4:30 p.m. today.
Taylor and Lock won the first set against the Olympians’ Madelyn Rhodes and Emmalee Kiser 6-4 before finding themselves down 6-3 in the second set tiebreaker with the season on the line.
The Jets duo won the next three points to tie it at 7-7. They ended the match on two more consecutive points to win the second set 7-6 with a 9-7 tiebreaker in the first sectional match of their careers.
“Every time we either messed up or got a point, we just kept pushing each other forward and being optimistic,” Taylor said. “If we messed up, we just knew that we had to shake it off and go to the next play because that’s what really kept us going, definitely in the last part when it got close.”
The other two wins for Hauser (8-4) came from Alana Owen, who beat Louna Prince 6-3, 6-2, at No. 1 singles, and Madie Sherman, who topped Jenna Shoaf 7-6, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.
“We came in expecting to win because we have a strong team this year with three seniors, so it was a good year to do this,” Hauser coach Molly Crabtree said. “We’re excited about (today). We know it’s going to be tough, but we’re going to go in there with a fight.”
The wins for the Olympians (9-8) came from Ayano Nomura at No. 3 singles. She beat Maddy Archer 6-0, 6-3. Megna Chari and Kathryn Hodzen advanced in the individual competition after sweeping Sarah Tedder and Abby Johnson 6-0, 6-0.
“I think No. 1 doubles was on top at the beginning, but particularly I know (Nomura) at No. 3 singles, she came out and played well,” East coach Matt Malinsky said. “I don’t know if I’d seen her play that well all year, so she shows a lot of promise for the future, and she’s only a freshman. It’s just really disappointing how the rest of them panned out. I think it just came down to a couple points here or there, especially at No. 2 doubles. For whatever reason, we just didn’t have it.”
The Bull Dogs (12-5) swept both it’s Nos. 2 and 3 singles 6-0, 6-0 to start their match against Brown County (6-13). Shweta Srinivasan beat Julia Williams at No. 2 singles, and Jaline Tay defeated Cassidy Davis at No. 3 singles.
North clinched the match win with a win at No. 1 doubles. Madelyn Sanders and Eva Chevalier beat Jacey Ferguson and Leah Tucker 6-1, 6-0. Ali Bergman and Servane Cloteaux won 6-3, 6-0 against Olivia Baughman and Baelyn Koester at No. 2 doubles.
“I thought we came out and played pretty well,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “One of the things we talked about was we are the favorite team, but this is the whole new ball game. One bad loss and you’re done. Don’t take anybody for granted in this sectional.”
At No. 1 singles, the Eagles’ Hallee Miller pushed Yijiang Zhao in the second set after losing 6-2 in the first set. Miller was trailing 6-5 before Zhao took the final game to win 7-5.
“I feel like we played a very good match,” Brown County coach Thom Miller said. “I was really proud of Hallee and how well she played. She fought, she hung in there and she battled through.”
