Although the Franklin girls tennis team was disappointed by losing in the state semifinals, Grizzly Cubs coach Rusty Hughes quickly put it in perspective.
“It was a storybook season,” Hughes said. “It was like a fairy tale. Every one of our kids stood up, singles and doubles.”
The No. 8 Grizzly Cubs suffered their first loss in 28 matches as No. 1 South Bend St. Joseph won 4-1 in Saturday’s IHSAA state semifinals at Center Grove. It was the first time the Grizzly Cubs had made it to state in tennis. Franklin won its first semistate by beating No. 6 Park Tudor 3-2 and then topped No. 20 Castle 4-1 in Friday’s quarterfinal.
The No. 2 doubles team of sophomore Kate Pinnick and junior Kennedy Urban finished unbeaten, edging St. Joseph’s Lily Mayfield and Maggie Nguyen 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 in the last match to end.
“They had a great season,” Hughes said of his No. 2 tandem. “I’m sure they are proud of themselves for battling.”
St. Joseph had broken serve to tie it at 5-all before Franklin won the final two games.
“We really just wanted to win for ourselves,” Pinnick said. “For pride, we wanted to win it. But also, it was for the team. We’ve made it so far. I think to get a win for the team is uplifting after a hard loss.”
Communication has been the doubles partners’ greatest strength.
“Playing doubles, it’s important to talk with your partner,” Pinnick said. “We both play volleyball, so we’re pretty good at that.”
“Whenever one of us is down, the other one is right there to pick the other one up,” Urban agreed.
Urban said Pinnick gave her a quick pep talk after St. Joseph broke to make it 5-all.
“Kate reeled me back in and said ‘let’s go do this and let’s finish,’” Urban said. “That’s exactly what we did.”
In the No. 1 doubles match, Dani Graham and Gracie Velasko beat Franklin senior Ailyn Hendricks and freshman Marnie Moore 6-1, 6-2. That was Hendricks and Moore’s first loss in the postseason, eliminating the duo from the individual doubles tournament.
The Indians dominated in the three singles matches, losing just four total games. Molly Bellia, the 2021 state singles champion, downed junior Rylie Wilkison 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1. At No. 2, Ashi Amalnathan topped junior Chelsie Rayl 6-0, 6-2. Anni Amalnathan lost her only game in the second set against senior Emma Williams at No. 3.
Pinnick said the experience should be good for the returning girls.
“We are ready for next season,” Pinnick said. “We should be really good.”
Urban said the team should be pretty deep next season as well.
“But we’re definitely going to miss our two seniors; they were great,” Urban said of Williams and Hendricks.
Hughes said both seniors were awesome all year.
Despite her freshman season being canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Williams set the record for most singles wins at Franklin.
“We used 11 starters during the season,” Hughes said. “That’s a lot of people that got to play varsity. That makes it more satisfying.”
Hughes said his assistant coaches, Amanda Ray, Stan Wilkison and Holyn Stonebraker were instrumental in the team’s success.
