R-T Photo/Seth Herrold
Elle Neal races in for a return shot during Trenton’s 5-4 district semifinal victory over Maryville on Tuesday afternoon. Neal combined with Emma Gilham for an 8-2 doubles win, but dropped her singles match, 7-6, 4-6, 2-6.
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She was the only one left.
Trenton’s number-two player was locked in a battle with a Maryville opponent in the Class 1, District 16 semifinals on Tuesday. The Bulldogs and Spoofhounds were knotted at 4 matches each. It all came down to Dolan.
With the dual and the season on the line, Dolan rose to the occasion, pulling out a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory to send Trenton back to the district championship dual for a second-consecutive year.
“All of the girls played hard, but I couldn’t be more proud of Lauren,” Trenton coach Bobbie Hainey said. “She stayed calm after falling in the first set and came back to win, sending our team to the championship.”
Dolan’s match had all the drama of a decisive battle. After falling in the first set, the Trenton senior rallied to force a third set and then outlasted Maryville’s Emma Web-Kirkpatrick in the final set for a slim 7-5 victory.
For Dolan, the singles victory and dual win were sufficient retribution after she and doubles partner Claire Utley fell earlier by a 9-7 margin to Maryville’s top doubles team in a match that was contentious at times over in-or-out calls made. At one point Dolan even called out a Maryville player, asking her to “show me where that was” on a shot hit near the baseline that was called out of bounds by the Maryville duo.
Trenton was able to score victories in the other two doubles matches pretty easily. Samantha Mihalovich and Maddie Searcy won 8-2 and Emma Gilham and Elle Neal won 8-2 as well.
Searcy and Mihalovich put Trenton on the verge of finishing off the dual with singles victories. Searcy had no trouble earning a 6-0, 6-0 win and Mihalovich won with similar ease, 6-3, 6-0.
But Maryville hung tough. The Spoofhounds toppled Utley at number one with a 6-2, 6-2 win and Emma Gilham and Elle Neal both dropped close, three-set matches to keep the ’Hounds alive. Gilham lost 6-3, 3-6, 2-6 and Neal fell 7-6 (7-0), 4-6, 2-6. That’s when the dual was decided by Dolan’s victory.
“Tonight was a long and exciting night of tennis,” Hainey said. “The girls worked hard to stay in the match and we are excited to play in the district championship against Chillicothe.”
Trenton goes back to the district title dual, where they will face top-seeded Chillicothe today at 4 o’clock in Chillciothe.
Trenton fell 5-0 in the district championship last season to a Maryville squad that was undefeated at the time. This year’s match-up with the Hornets will be the third meeting of the season for the two schools. Trenton won at home 6-3 on Aug. 28, but fell on the road in Chillicothe 5-4 on Sept. 14.