TENNIS REGIONAL: New champion to be crowned at Floyd regional

BY MIKE HUTSELL
Mike.Hutsell@newsandtribune.com

May 21, 2008 02:12 am

— FLOYDS KNOBS — The only certainty heading into today’s Floyd Central regional final is that a new champion will be crowned.
Providence unseated two-time defending champion Floyd Central, using a dramatic rally at No. 2 doubles and a grueling victory at No. 1 singles to survive the host Highlanders in Tuesday’s semifinals.
The Pioneers will match up against Silver Creek. The Dragons won four matches in straight sets and scored a 4-1 victory over New Albany in the other semifinal.
The two teams met just last week, with the Dragons scoring a tight 3-2 victory.
“It’s what we expect,” said Dragons head coach Mike Crabtree. “There are four very challenging teams here. We knew there would be close matches at this round of the tournament because everyone seems very closely matched.”

Providence-Floyd Central
Emily Dinoto and Courtney Murphy needed a rally, but the duo provided what could have been the pivotal point in the victory over the Highlanders.
In the regular season matchup between the teams — a 3-2 Floyd victory — Providence suffered losses in both doubles matches.
It appeared as if that fate could be coming again in the semis, as the Highlanders quickly seized the first set in both pairs matches.
As Dinoto and Murphy fell into a hole against Alyssa Botkins and Ann Hunt, they knew it was far from time to panic.
“We just had to keep each other’s head in it,” said Dinoto. “I think knowing how important that point was for us kept us focused — we had to have that spot to win.”
Dinoto and Murphy rebounded and won the final two sets — turning all the eyes to the one final match still on the court.
Providence’s Whitney Thomas held a one-set lead against Floyd Central’s Kelsey Wisman. She lost a 5-1 lead in the opening set but survived a Wisman rally to eventually win in a tiebreaker.
The two were locked in another long back-and-forth second set — one that eventually headed back to a tiebreaker.
Thomas scored the first four points of the tiebreak, and eventually wrapped up the match 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2).
“Not easy at all, and you just don’t expect it to be at the regional,” said Pioneer coach Barry Decatur. “We knew the matches we probably were going to have to win if we wanted to advance and we were able to get those points — and they were not easy matches to win.”
The third Providence win was by Jill Grable, who scored a No. 2 singles victory over Chelsea Burch 6-1, 6-1.
For Floyd Central, the victories came at No. 3 singles, where Jessica VanWinkle topped Kady Bandy 6-2, 6-1. The Highlander No. 1 doubles squad of Emma LaDuke an Kayla Prusinski added the second victory, improving to 22-1 on the season with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Elyse LaGarenne and Stephanie Smith.

Silver Creek-New Albany
Sara Hebble set the tone for the day for the Dragons, opening the contest with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Kylia Sullivan at No. 1 singles.
Her teammates were quick to follow suit, as Creek managed a sweep in singles and a victory at No. 1 doubles to advance to the final for the second straight season.
“We did the things that we felt we had to do,” said Crabtree. “New Albany meant business and it was apparent early that they came to play. We were very steady and smart in our matches.”
Kendall Regan and Taylor East were singles winners for the Dragons. Regan beat Kylie Crecelius in the No. 2 position 6-2, 6-0, while East overcame freshman Hayley Haws 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. The pair of Ally DeWeese and Morgan Coquerille was the final winner for Creek, beating Kaitlin Tretter and Sarah Nale 6-4, 6-4 at No. 1 doubles.
New Albany’s victory came from the No. 2 doubles spot, where Deidre Fetz and Kaitlyn Focken topped Cayeleigh Yost and Alexa Leonard 6-4, 6-3.

FLOYD CENTRAL REGIONAL
Semifinals
Providence 3, Floyd Central 2
Singles — Thomas (P) d. Wisman 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2); Grable (P) d. Burch 6-1, 6-1; VanWinkle (F) d. Bandy 6-2, 6-1
Doubles — Prusinski-LaDuke (F) d. LaGarenne-Smith 6-2, 6-2; Dinoto-Murphy d. Botkins-Hunt 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Silver Creek 4, New Albany 1
Singles — Hebble d. Sullivan 6-1, 6-1; Regan (S) d. Crecelius 6-2, 6-0; East (S) d. Haws 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
Doubles — DeWeese-Coquerille (S) d. Tretter-Nale 6-4, 6-4; Fetz-Focken (N) d. Yost-Leonard 6-4, 6-3

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