Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

Waccamaw wins girls tennis title

SUMTER -- When it came down to the final match, Waccamaw's girls tennis team had a pair of aces in the hole as Tolley Rice and Casey Altman teamed up to drop Sarah Seigler and Claire Gillespie 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 doubles to lock up the Class AA state championship Saturday with a 4-3 win over Emerald at the Palmetto Tennis Center.

"I feel like they are the one of the best doubles teams," Warriors coach James Brown said of his No. 1 doubles duo . "We know what they are going to do when they get out there. We felt like [getting to No. 1 doubles] would be a plus for us. [Emerald] saw us play yesterday and saw how talented our girls were."

Rice won early at No. 1 singles and Altman won at No. 3, but Emerald took wins at Nos. 2, 4 and 5 singles and needed to win just one doubles match to take its first title since 1996 after losing to Bishop England in the state final the last two seasons.

No. 2 doubles played first, with Waccamaw's Sarah Moran and Danielle Hartzler facing Emerald's Julianne Welch and Rebecca Hobbs. Moran and Hartzler took the first set 7-5 and led the second set 6-5 before Welch and Hobbs rallied to force a tiebreaker, which Waccamaw won 7-5 to put the match in the able hands of Rice and Alston.

Brown said all teams have good players at the top of the lineup, but he is fortunate enough to have quality players lower in the order and at No. 2 doubles, a spot that can make or break a championship run, as Moran and Hartzler proved.

"We've come up with a pair that aren't overpowering, but are fundamentally sound," Brown said.

The overpowering pair is Rice and Altman. Rice is a right-hander and Altman is lefty, which causes matchup problems for most opponents. "Its a big advantage because you get a lot more forehand volleys and forehand groundstrokes," Brown said.

Rice and Alston clinched a spot in the final for Waccamaw with a doubles win on Friday against two-time defending state champion Bishop England in Friday's Lower State final, a situation Brown has seen many times before. "It's good when you win and terrible when you lose and I've been on both sides," he said.

Singles: Tolley Rice (W) def. Sarah Seigler 6-1, 6-0; Claire Gillespie (E) def. Sarah Elliott 6-3, 2-6, 10-8; Casey Altman (W) def. Arielle Barraca 6-3, 6-2; Maggie Elliott (E) def. Margaret Brown 6-4, 6-4; Elizabeth Mulkey (E) def. Riley McCallus 6-4, 6-1.

Doubles: Sarah Moran-Danielle Hartzler (W) def. Julianne Welch-Rebecca Hobbs 7-5, 7-6 (7-5); Rice-Altman (W) def. Seigler-Gillespie 6-2, 6-3.

Record: Waccamaw 14-5