By Eric Smith/The Lebanon Reporter
Lebanon
May 06, 2008 06:24 pm
—
With the Sagamore Conference girls tennis title on the line, the Western Boone-Lebanon rivalry had a bit more at stake, Monday. The Lady Stars managed to hand the Lady Tigers their first conference defeat, winning a hard-fought 3-2 match.
“Both sides wanted this bad,” Western Boone head coach Allyson Gardner said. “For Lebanon, they wanted (conference) outright, and for us it was just a chance to get a foot in the door to tie it up and be co-champs with Lebanon and North (Montgomery). So clearly there was a lot on the line for everybody.”
The WeBo doubles teams laid the ground work for the victory, taking two early wins against the Tigers.
The No. 1 team of senior Teale Rutledge and sophomore Molly Coy took down Lebanon junior Julie Ward and sophomore Rose Sparks 6-1, 6-4. A few feet away, the WeBo No. 2 doubles team of seniors Bailey Keith and Sarah Brindle made short work of junior Emily Northcutt and freshman Maddy Ruch 6-0, 6-2.
Lebanon was dominant in the No. 3 singles match, however, as sophomore Elizabeth Henson defeated Stars’ junior Alexandra Watters 6-0, 6-4.
From there, the focus was solely on the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches. In No. 2 singles, WeBo sophomore Abby Hanson fell in the first set to Lebanon senior Caroline Lariviere 7-6 in a tiebreaker. Hanson clawed her way back two even the score with a 6-2 win in the second set, and kept the momentum going with a 6-3 third set win.
“I am so very proud of Abby Hanson tonight,” Gardner said. “She was down 1-4 in that first set, and it would have been very easy for her to get discouraged, but she didn’t. She came to the fence and said ‘coach, I’m going three sets, and I’m going to win this tonight for us,’ and she did exactly that.”
The match coincided with an equally-thrilling comeback in No. 1 singles. Western Boone sophomore Brittney Horlacher was all over Lebanon senior Aly O’Conner, taking the first set 6-4, and holding a 5-2 advantage in the second set. But O’Conner fought her way back to win the next five games in the second set, and rode the wave to a 6-4 win in the third.
“It just took (O’Conner) a really long time to settle down,” Erwin said. “She’s an excellent player, and she knows how to dig deep. She’s a senior, and that’s what being a senior and a team captain is all about.”
Lebanon (5-3, 4-1 in conference) was rolling through the Sagamore Conference before Monday, looking to finish undefeated with a log jam at the top. The Lady Stars (9-1, 3-1 in conference) dropped an SAC game at North Montgomery on April 22, but have been impressive in all nine of their other matches.
With the season soon coming to a close, the tennis teams are locked up with North Montgomery, who’s only conference loss came at the hands of Lebanon.
Both Boone County teams will shift to non-conference matchups today. The Lady Tigers are back at 5 p.m. today when they travel to Lafayette Jeff.
The Lady Stars will play at 4:30 p.m. today when they host Covenant Christian.
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