AHS girls tennis fall at state
Published 12:01 am Friday, April 27, 2012
Andalusia fell in the first day of the Class 4A state tennis tournament on Thursday at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile.
The Lady Bulldogs had two singles players advance to the quarterfinal stage in the tournament.
Andalusia’s Sarah Atkinson beat Booker T. Washington’s Casey Delker 6-4, 6-2 in the first round; and then fell to St. James’ Anna Banks Blackwell 0-6, 0-6 in the quarterfinals.
In No. 6 singles, Andalusia’s Elisabeth Christensen defeated Brooks’ Morgan Guyton 6-4, 6-1 in the first round; and then fell to Douglas’ Holley Simmons 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 in the quarterfinals.
“I thought maybe she was going to pull it out,” AHS coach Daniel Bulger said about Christensen. “She had a tough and long match.”
Andalusia’s Jennifer Botta fell to Pope John Paul II’s Payton Trippett 0-6, 0-6 in No. 1 singles in the first round; Andalusia’s Meredith Tillman got a bye in the first round, but fell to Brooks’ Eliza Ritter 3-6, 2-6 in No. 2 singles in the quarterfinals; Andalusia’s Susie Watson got a bye in the first round, but fell to Cherokee County’s Jessica McCord 2-6, 3-6 in No. 4 singles in the quarterfinals; and Andalusia’s Anna Beth Bowden fell to St. James’ Scotlyn Paterson 1-6, 1-6 in No. 5 singles in the first round.
Botta and Atkinson fell to Pope John Paul II’s P. Winghart and A. DeSpain 1-6, 0-6 in the first round of No. 1 doubles; Tillman and Watson fell to Deshler’s B. Holway and K. Holway 2-6, 0-6 in the first round of No. 2 doubles; and Bowden and Christensen fell to St. James’ Caroline Mathews and Paterson 0-6, 4-6 in the first round of No. 3 doubles.
Bulger said he was “pleased” with how the girls played, despite only winning two matches.
“We played well,” he said. “The score in the other matches was a lot closer than what the final score was.”