For Franklin senior Ailyn Hendricks, there was no doubt.
“That was the biggest win of my career,” Hendricks said.
With Saturday’s semistate match with Park Tudor tied at 2-2, all eyes turned to the No. 1 doubles match, where Hendricks and freshman Marnie Moore edged Caroline Van Winkle and Marissa Benge 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-0) to give No. 8 Franklin a 3-2 decision over No. 6 Park Tudor at the Center Grove tennis courts.
The Grizzly Cubs (26-0), who captured a semistate for the first time in their history, will face No. 20 Castle at noon Friday in a state quarterfinal match at Center Grove.
Both doubles teams had trouble holding serve in the third set. However, Hendricks held serve to tie at 6-6 and force the tiebreaker. The Grizzly Cubs then reeled off seven unanswered points to finish it.
“That gave us our confidence back,” Hendricks said of tying it at 6-6. “We had the momentum, so we just kept rolling with it. We tried to not worry about anything at all and just took it a point at a time.”
Moore said she was confident when she and Hendricks got to the tiebreaker.
“Once we got to the tiebreaker, I knew we could do it,” Moore said. “All we had to do was power through, bounce back after every single point. Everyone was so nervous and we just had the momentum.”
Moore said the partners, who also remain alive in the state doubles competition, keep improving with each match.
Franklin coach Rusty Hughes said the team members have taken turns delivering a needed win.
“Everybody at some point in the year has played extremely well and kept us alive all year,” Hughes said. “We played really well and everyone stepped up. That’s what makes our team so unique — because we have good players at every spot.”
Franklin senior Emma Williams rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the first set to down Annamaria Ebersole 7-5, 6-1 at No. 3 singles.
The Grizzly Cubs’ No. 2 doubles team of junior Kennedy Urban and sophomore Kathryn Pinnick remained unbeaten with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Katie Pavlack and Natalie Whitacre.
Franklin junior Rylie Wilkison suffered her first loss of the season at No. 1 singles, losing to the Panthers’ Caitlin Van Winkle 6-2, 6-2. Park Tudor’s Shreya Mallela rallied to defeat Grizzly Cub junior Chelsie Rayl 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.
Hughes said Williams’ comeback was no surprise to anyone.
“Emma has done that several times during her career,” Hughes said.
Williams, who has just one loss this season, said she knew she needed to turn things around for her team.
“I needed them to be able to count on me,” she said. “I knew coming out with a win would motivate No. 1 doubles to pull out the win. We had a game plan and I was nervous coming out. I just had to shake off my nerves and play my game.”
Williams will attend Butler University but doesn’t plan to play in college.
“I don’t want to say goodbye yet; I’m not done,” she said. “It’s exciting. We’re bringing tennis up (at Franklin). I love this team so much.”
