INDIANAPOLIS
The preferred conclusion for the Franklin girls tennis team would have been to win another Mid-State Conference tournament outright on Wednesday.
However, this spring turned out to be the season for sharing.
The Grizzly Cubs and Plainfield each racked up 47 points to tie for the top spot at Perry Meridian. Whiteland finished third with 32 points.
“You always want to win it, but Plainfield’s a great team, so we’re happy to be champs of Mid-State again. It’s a good thing for us,” Franklin coach Rusty Hughes said. “We have a good program heading toward next year, so we just want to keep it going.”
The Cubs were represented in all five championship matches — four against the Quakers. Franklin picked up titles from sophomore Emma Williams at No. 3 singles and from junior Haley Haldeman and freshman Emma Sappenfield at second doubles.
Williams lost the first set to Plainfield’s Ruby Woodson, 6-2, before returning the favor by the same score in the second. Williams then dominated play in the tiebreaker, 10-1.
“The first time I played her we went to a tiebreaker the first set, and I lost. And then she beat me, 6-3, in the second set,” Williams said. “Today, I just kept my feet moving and kept the ball in play. She hits hard and is an aggressive player.”
Haldeman and Sappenfield defeated Whiteland’s duo of Kaylee Hoagland and Brooke Boehnlein, 7-5, 6-0, in what was the lone all-Johnson County finale.
“The key was keeping our shots in and having them make mistakes,” Haldeman said. “At the beginning, we were making a lot of the mistakes and it was really hurting us. We were playing very tense because we knew that this is a very important match.”
Also for Franklin, No. 1 singles player Rylie Wilkison lost to Plainfield’s Jordyn Pax, 6-2, 6-1. The previously unbeaten top doubles tandem of sisters Haylie and Chelsie Rayl lost a third-set tiebreaker to the Quakers’ duo of Camille Clark and Emma Kessinger, 10-1.
Besides having the runner-up at No. 2 doubles, Whiteland featured senior Sarah Scott finishing third at No. 1 singles, and the Warriors’ top doubles team of Natalie Cloer and Molly Brosnan also had a third-place effort. Sara Ullrich was third at No. 3 singles after leading her opponent, 3-0, in the first set when the latter pulled out with an illness.
“You just never know about tournaments and how they’re going to play out, but I thought my girls played really, really well. I was very proud of them,” Whiteland coach Mike Gillespie said. “An example is Sara Ullrich played the Franklin girl in the semifinals.
“It was the third time they’ve played. The first two times it was fairly lopsided, but (Ullrich) really, really battled much better. That’s the kind of stuff I’m looking for.”
Greenwood’s Meri Yusef finished fourth at No. 2 singles, losing to Colleen Li of Perry Meridian, 6-4, 6-2. The Woodmen pairing of Ava Stein and Ashlee Walton forced a third-set tiebreaker in the consolation match at No. 2 doubles, but lost to Plainfield, 13-11.
