LIMA — Exhausted and elated.
Those were the feelings of Wapakoneta girls tennis head coach Jason Johnson after watching his team capture the Western Buckeye League tournament and overall title Saturday.
By winning the title the Redskins recorded their fourth straight overall title and seventh in the school’s history.
The Redskins, who went undefeated in the regular WBL season, took home the tournament crown with 56 points to secure the overall title. Shawnee finished second in the tournament with 50 points and was second behind Wapakoneta in the overall standings for the fourth straight year.
Celina and St. Marys tied for third overall followed by Ottawa-Glandorf. Defiance was sixth, followed by Bath, Van Wert, Elida and Kenton.
“This is the fourth year in a row so that means these seniors won the WBL championships their entire high school career and that is amazing,” Johnson said. “They really wanted it and came out fighting. There was some really good tennis today. We really had strong top four teams so to end up on top was a big accomplishment.”
Johnson, who was named coach of the year, said what makes this run so impressive is that the girls know they have a big target on their back every time they hit the courts and have faced up to the challenge.
“It something that they strived for and they knew they wanted it this year,” Johnson said. “They kept working on getting it and they put in so much time. I know other schools do but the amount of time and dedication this team put in I was really impressed with.”
Johnson, who nervously paced throughout the day, watched as the Redskins were represented in the five finals matches and Wapakoneta claimed three of those but not without being tested.
Redskin Allie Zofkie, the No. 2 singles player, was the lone Wapakoneta player to cruise to her title after posting a 6-1, 6-1 victory of St. Marys’ Hanna Felver.
Wapakoneta’s Madison Watt, who was the No. 2 singles champion last year, took home first in first singles by holding off Roughrider Clare Caywood. 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (7-1). Watt appeared to be heading towards an easy win after decisively winning the first set. But Caywood came storming back in the second set to force a tightly played third set before Watt prevailed in the tiebreaker.
At third singles, Shawnee picked up its first of two WBL titles when Whitney Baxter fought off Redskin Cassidy Hughes 6-0, 2-6, 6-1, to give the Indian netter the title. Baxter had beaten Hughes earlier in the year to hand the Redskin one of her few losses of the season and the Indian netter got the same result on the rematch.
The doubles matches provided the most excitement.
At first doubles, Wapakoneta’s Kate Henderson and Makayla Schroeder narrowly escaped with a three-set win over Shawnee’s Rishika Avvari and Meghana Chanamoulu. The Redskin pair garnered the first set, 6-4, and were on the verge of taking the second set, up 5-4 and 40-love, when the Indian duo staved off the loss and rallied to win the second set 7-5. In the third set, the Shawnee pair appeared to have the upper hand when they broke out to a 3-0 advantage. But the Redskin team fought back and reeled off the next six out seven games to post the victory.
“They played great,” Johnson said. `They got down on themselves a little bit but that is what I like about this team that they are willing to pick each other up.”
Not to be outdone was the second doubles marathon contest between the Wapakoneta pair of Lauren Snider and Madison Schroeder against the Shawnee duo of Rachel Brogee and Bree Barker. The Indian netters took early control of the match when they took the first set 6-4. The Redskins bounced back in the second set and battled to knot the match after winning the tiebreaker in the second set, 7-5, to force the third set. Like the previous set, the two battled evenly and once again the two teams clashed in a tiebreaker. Shawnee ended the long match when it won the tiebreaker 7-4.
“We knew both of the doubles finals would be close because the season matches were close,” said Shawnee coach Nate Higgins. “I’m happy that both went to third sets. Unfortunately we didn’t win at first doubles but we won at second doubles after two tiebreakers. I can be anything but happy even though we are going to finish second.”
Higgins added that his girls improved all season but knew it was going to be tough to get past the Redskins who have dominated the past three years.
“It seems like it has been us two with Celina and St. Marys at the top,” Higgins said. “I know next year it is going to be interesting because they are losing players and we are losing players. We have some young talent so next year might be our year we return to the top. Definitely eager but not upset today.”
Ottawa-Glandorf’s Madison Heckman garnered the league’s sportsman of the year. The award is voted on by her peers.
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