For the Daily Journal
COLUMBUS
Leading 5-3, 40-0 in the third set at No. 2 singles and Edinburgh and Hauser deadlocked at 2-2, the Lancers’ Bethany Burton had three match points.
The Jets’ Bella Kilps overcame each to rally to win that game and cut the deficit to 5-4. So when Burton jumped out to a 30-0 lead in the next game, she was a little nervous.
This time, however, Burton finished it off. She completed a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 victory to give Edinburgh the 3-2 victory in the opening round of the Columbus North Sectional.
“I just had to start fresh and not think about it and want to have the motivation to get better and win,” Burton said.
The Lancers (6-10) advance to today’s semifinals, where they will face Columbus East. Fifth-ranked Columbus North and Brown County will square off in the other semifinal.
Wednesday’s opener came down to No. 2 singles after Hauser (8-8) had won both doubles matches, and Edinburgh had won at first and third singles.
“I was just a little bit nervous that we weren’t going to pull it out, but I had faith in our No. 2 singles, and I was very confident that our 3 singles was going to pull it out, too,” Edinburgh senior Annelise Lollar said. “I think we were all just really wanting to win and move on to the second round of sectional, and I think we all just had our hearts in the game today.”
Lollar beat the Jets’ Andie Clark 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles to cut the deficit to 2-1. Jessica Walsh then topped Kaitlyn Everroad 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 to even the match.
No. 3 singles was a turnaround from the regular season, when Hauser won 3-2.
“(Walsh) has improved from day one until now,” Edinburgh coach Rachel O’Brien said. “She plays totally different, and she’s more confident, and she’s just improved in all of her skills in a short amount of time. They really all have improved this entire year, especially when we played the (Mid-Hoosier Conference individual tournament) on Saturday. That gave the girls a lot of confidence to push through it today.”
Kilps played Burton much closer than she did in Saturday’s 6-3, 6-1 match that Burton won on her way to taking the No. 2 singles title. On Wednesday, Kilps had the momentum after winning the second set and taking 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the third before Burton recovered.
“I think they were very similar players, and they rallied back and forth,” Hauser coach Molly Crabtree said. “We maybe just ran out of juice.”
The Jets’ Emily Harker and Aunaka Wasil beat Peyton Bryant and Alyssa Funkhouser 6-0, 6-1 and will advance in the state doubles tournament. Hauser’s Charlie Clark and Gabby Johns blanked Gracie Myers and Zoey Sida 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.