The WHS girls tennis team drew the bye in the sectional tournament. That meant that they would have to play the winner of last night's Whitko vs. Columbia City match. No one thought that Columbia City would win, and they were correct. Thus, tonight's matches would pair Warsaw against Tippy Valley and Wawasee against Whitko.
Meg talked about the match all week. She had played Whitko's number 1 singles player on Monday losing in straight sets. Meg felt that it was not her best match of the season as the heat was really bothering her. She wanted redemption as she knew that she could do better. She proved that to everyone tonight.
Meg started on fire in the first set. It was by far the best Doug and I have ever seen her play. She put away more winners in that set than she had all season. She won it fairly easily at 6-4. I know her opponent was caught off guard by Meg's play. Not only had she play against her Monday night, she had also been in drills with her at the racquet club. I am sure that Whitko thought it would be an easy match for them, but Meg surprised them all.
Doug reminded me during the first set that tennis is a game of runs. He was right. Meg ran through that first set, but that changed in the second one. She found herself down 5-2 when lightening struck. The girls were the only court left as Wawasee's doubles easily beat Whitko's and their number 2 and 3 singles won in straight sets over Wawasee's girls. As the lightening delay drug on and the clouds looked as though they would open up at any minute, Doug decided to go to Cam's band performance. I had hoped to make it as well and had arranged through the athletic director to take Meg with me, but it wasn't meant to be. Doug promised me he'd video tape the Jungle Books songs and my parents made sure that Cam got to his program for his call time.
Meg started off slow after the hour long delay. She was anxious and hungry. Shane had the managers get her some fruit snacks after she lost the second set 6-2 and she said it helped. I thought the match was going to end quickly during the third set. I know that it is hard to rebound once you have lost a one set lead. Meg was down 1-4 when all of a sudden her adrenaline kicked in. She played methodically, moving her opponent around the court. She served several ten minute plus deuce games and slowly came back to tie the third set at 5-5.
I hoped that the momentum would stay on Meg's side of the court, but it just wasn't meant to be and Meg lost the third set after three hours of tennis 5-7. With her loss Wawasee was knocked out of sectional play as Warsaw and Whitko will now play in the title match. Meg's loss ended her sophomore season of tennis, but there were no tears on the way home. Meg played a fantastic match and we couldn't be more proud of how she improved this season. She held her own at #1 singles proving in her last match that she could compete with a senior that was college bound to play tennis. What an awesome way to finish up.
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