By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Unfortunately, the Union City girls’ doubles team did not leave Murfreesboro with a state championship.
What the tandem of Shelby Bondurant and Annie Wade did come home with, however, was hope – for next year and beyond.
The Lady Tornado twosome dropped a hard-fought 6-4, 6-2 decision to Summertown’s Ella Konig and Grace Kelly in Thursday’s Small Division semifinals. The loss ended an impressive postseason run that included the UC tandem becoming just the second girls’ duo in program history to win a state tournament match earlier in the day.
Bondurant, a freshman, and Wade, a junior, beat the Watertown team of Blake Griffin and Summer Sesnan in the quarterfinals Thursday morning. They dug themselves a deep hole by dropping the first five games of the semis, though, then battled back and won four straight games before Konig and Kelly prevailed 6-4 in the first set.
The Purple and Gold team then took an early 2-1 lead in the second set before Summertown ran off five straight games again to close out the match.
Despite the disappointment of the result, Union City head coach Tom Sisco pointed out the obvious – his girls were not in over their heads against state-level competition.
“They saw what type of competition they’ll face when they get here, and it’s not overwhelming,” Sisco insisted. “The talent level is not extreme from us to our opponents.
“To see that, I hope it will prepare us and give us confidence for another run next year.”
A handful of unforced errors early and some shot-making by the Summertown tandem led to UC’s early deficit.
Bondurant and Wade – who ended the year with a 17-5 record — reeled off four consecutive games, though, each holding serve and breaking both Konig and Kelly to close within 5-4 and switch the match momentum.
The Lady Tornadoes had a couple of chances to forge a 5-all tie, but Summertown clinched the first set instead after a deuce point.
Wade held service after Summertown won a deuce-point to take Game 1 of the second set, and Union City then broke the Lady Eagles to take its first and only lead at 2-1.
More unforced UC errors again became a factor immediately, though, and Konig and Kelly capitalized with another run of five games in a row to close out the match.
“That we battled back in that first set was so impressive, but we wasted so much physical and mental energy, and I think that hurt us in the second set,” Sisco added. “There’s such a fine line there. Falling behind big was so critical. We had a chance with a couple of points to get to 5-all, but when we didn’t, that kind of broke our backs.
“We got off to a good start in that second set, but that first set was just so hard to overcome. I don’t know if was acclimating to the heat or what, but we just weren’t mentally ready to start the match. We didn’t execute our shots, and their girls didn’t make a lot of mistakes. You just can’t do that against really-good competition.”
The coach said he believed a tough regular-season schedule prepared his girls for the strong competition they faced at the state tourney.
“There were some shots today that, if we don’t play some of the folks we played in-season, there’s no way we react to them and get to them. It (the schedule) certainly helped.”
In the morning quarterfinals, Bondurant and Wade joined Meg Kizer and Gussie Parks (2018) as the only UCHS girls’ doubles teams to win a state tournament match by beating the Watertown twosome of Griffin and Sesnan 6-3, 6-0.
The UC girls made quick work of the Purple Tigers, completing their straight-set victory in just 62 minutes.
The Golden Tornado pair broke their opponents’ service twice in the first set and three times in the second set with their share of impressive groundstrokes and well-placed shots at the net and from the baseline.
Konig and Kelly will play the Madison Academic Magnet team of Mitzi Castro and Sarah Wilson in Friday morning’s finals.