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Greencastle wins third-straight girls' tennis sectional title over Northview
Gray skies cast a need for urgency ahead of the final of the IHSAA Greencastle Girls’ Tennis Sectional between the hosts and Northview Friday afternoon.
The Tiger Cub No. 1 singles and doubles members got the memo and quickly put away their matches but across the other three points, the Knights were not willing to yield, taking all to three sets.
But just as those deciding sets were ramping up, so too did the clouds above, forcing the match to DePauw’s Indoor Tennis Center.
The cooldown between the moves was enough for Greencastle to settle back in, picking up the remaining three contests to sweep Northview 5-0 and claim a third-straight sectional title.
“We win when we play at DePauw,” Greencastle head coach Annette Munoz pointed out. “We’ve had a few matches here over the years and the entire sectional was here last year along with the final; it was something I said to them before we left.
“We finished here tonight. No. 2 doubles came in down 0-2, won five-straight games in about 10 minutes and finished it off quickly. We came in with a mentality after the break of finishing the match and this was our eighth 5-0 win in a row as a team.”
The first point of the match came courtesy of Allie Landry with a quick 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles over Sam Hendricks.
Caroline Gooch and Sophie Riggle added a second point, defeating Katie Boor and Kambree James at No. 1 doubles 6-1, 6-3 to give the hosts a 2-0 lead roughly an hour into the match.
On two of the other three courts, Greencastle took 6-3 first set wins as Addie Fowley took the lead at No. 3 singles over Caroline Kooistra and No. 2 doubles pair Liberty Amis and Bella Monnett led Ariella Engle and Myra McQueen.
No. 2 singles also ended 6-3 but it was Northview that led as Martina Sutherland led Maddie Landry in the longest of the opening sets.
As the skies continued to look more ominous, the play on each of the three remaining courts flipped course.
Kooistra and Fowler were evenly contested but the former was able to pick up a few extra points to win the second set 6-4.
Engle and McQueen also rallied well to take a 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles over Amis and Monnett.
For as long as the first set had been at No. 2 singles, the second was entirely one-sided as Maddie Landry zipped through in a 6-0 win over Sutherland to level the match.
Just as the third sets were beginning, however, the skies finally opened up, sending players and spectators alike to cover and, while not a long rain, it was enough that, with the radar indicating more rain to come, the match was moved to DePauw for the conclusion.
Once there, the Tiger Cubs took command as Amis and Monnett took the momentum off of Engle and McQueen, cementing the sectional win with a 6-3 third set.
Not long after, Maddie Landry finished at No. 2 singles with a 6-1 win over Sutherland.
Fowler also took control of the match at No. 3 singles to jump out to a 4-1 lead but Kooistra took three of the next four games with a booming serve to close the gap to 5-4.
With the full attention of the crowd, Fowler was able to pull through and close the match with a 6-4 win as Greencastle celebrated a third-straight sectional title win.
“I’m very proud of the girls for their growth this season,” Munoz said. “They’re now 19-2 on the season.
“Each player contributed; each player that played a third set had some challenges to fight through and they all fought for themselves, their team and their school.”
The win sends Greencastle to the Crawfordsville Regional on Tuesday to face Sullivan, one of the two teams that defeated the Tiger Cubs this season in a 3-2 match on April 28.
“We are excited to play Sullivan on Tuesday,” Munoz said. “We know it’s going to be a challenging match but we are gearing up to have our best tennis on Tuesday.
No. 1 Singles — A. Landry def. Hendricks 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 Single — M. Landry def. Sutherland 3-6, 6-0, 6-1
No. 3 Singles — Fowler def. Kooistra 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
No. 1 Doubles — Gooch/Riggle def. Boor/James 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 Doubles — Amis/Monnett def. Engle/McQueen 6-3, 4-6, 6-3