FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Brandon Feusner
Tel:
502-819-7784
BAYLOR
MAKES HISTORY CLAIMING THIRD STRAIGHT
DECOTURF HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
March
16, 2013 – Louisville, KY – Sixteen of the nation's top girls
high school tennis teams traveled to Louisville, Kentucky on March
15-16 to compete in the prestigious DecoTurf High School Tennis Team
Championships. The seventh annual national invitational tournament
featured six defending state champions and five state finalists. The
tournament hosted teams from Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi,
Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia.
On
Saturday evening as one of the most competitive championships matches
in tournament history drew to a close the Baylor Red Raiders of
Chattanooga, Tennessee made history. With the tournament championship
hanging the in balance
two-time defending champion Baylor trailed Jenks (Jenks, OK) 3-4. The
Red Raiders needed victories from McCall Morgan at No. 4 singles and
Samantha Caswell at No. 1 singles to win the tournament championship
for a third straight year. A third set victory by Morgan put the
match on the racket of Caswell who had a one set lead.
With
temperatures falling and darkness looming tournament participants
from numerous teams gathered around the final court of play to watch
two-time tournament MVP Samantha Caswell pulled out a 6-3, 6-4
straight set win to clinch the match and give Baylor a record third
straight title. The junior four-star recruit pushed her tournament
winning streak to 19 straight wins by outscoring her 2013 opponents
50-19 in singles to claim MVP honors. Teammates Harper Caswell also
claimed all-tournament team honors in singles and partnered with
McCall Morgan to claim all-tournament team honors in doubles.
Tournament
finalist Jenks just fell short of their championship hopes despite
some outstanding play throughout the tournament. The Trojans were led
by Oklahoma's top ranked sophomore Mckinleigh Lair who finished
tournament play undefeated at No. 2 singles and fellow sophomore
Jenny Bond who was unbeaten at No.
5 singles. Jenks senior Mariah Burke finished 1-3 in
tournament play but all three loses came at the hands of
all-tournament team members.
Gulliver
Prep (Pinecrest, FL) posted a dominant 8-1 win over Ravenwood
(Brentwood, TN) to finish 3-1 in tournament play and claim third
place in the tournament. The Raiders were led by singles
all-tournament team selection Olivia Thaler and the doubles
all-tournament team duo of Estefania Navarro and Thaler. Ravenwood
was led by singles all-tournament team member Katie Fitt and the
all-tournament team doubles duo of Fitt and Iris Hao.
The
fifth place matchup saw Nashville's Harpeth Hall sweep all three
doubles matches and the top three singles matches to claim the 6-3
victory over Sacred Heart (Louisville, KY). The Honeybears were led
by senior Liza Southwick who finished the tournament 2-2 at No. 1
singles with losses to all-tournament team member Josie Rogers and
Samantha Caswell. Harpeth Hall was most dominant in doubles winning 9
of 12 doubles matches in tournament play.
Lone
Oak (Paducah, KY) who lost a tough 5-4 match to Winter Park (Winter
Park, FL) in the first round finished the tournament with three
straight wins to claim 9th place and win the consolation
finals over Kentucky rival Notre Dame (Covington, KY). The Purple
Flash were led by 8th grader Michelle McKamey who finished
2-2 in tournament play at No. 1 singles with her only losses coming
to all-tournament team selections Cassie Mercer and Joulia
Likhanskaia.
For
complete tournament results including match-by-match results,
all-tournament team selections and final standings visit the
tournament website at www.hstennischampionships.com.
The
DecoTurf High School Tennis Team Championships is an national high
school invitational held annually in Louisville, KY. The tournament
in its 7th
year has hosted more than 250 high school teams and more than 2,500
student-athletes. The tournament has hosted 38 team State Champions,
34 individual State Champions,14 National High School All Americans
and 68 NCAA Division I signees. For more information on the
tournament visit www.hstennischampionships.com.
###
If
you would like more information or to schedule an interview with
Tournament Director Brandon Feusner, please contact him at
hstennischampionships@gmail.com
or 502- 819-7784.
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