Wilson advances to title match

BLACKSBURG — Wilson today will make its first appearance since 1980 in a Group A team tennis championship match.

Originally planned for a 9 a.m. start at Radford University, steady rain forced the VHSL to move Wilson’s Group A semifinal match to the smaller indoor facilities at Virginia Tech on Friday. Wilson’s match was continually pushed back as other state matches went longer than expected. Finally, a break in the weather allowed the staff to prepare Tech’s outdoor courts after 2 p.m.

Wilson’s excitement never waned during the downtime, and the Green Hornets swarmed to a 5-0 victory over Region A champion Middlesex.

“We came in very confident,” said Wilson coach Seth Lovell. “We didn’t know anything about Middlesex, so we came in with the same attitude as if we played George Mason.”

The Green Hornets swept five singles events, negating the need for the doubles matches and stopping the No. 1 singles in the second set.

After about 30 minutes of play, rain again forced the competitors off the court as a brief shower slicked up the surface. Officials quickly dried off the court and play resumed 20 minutes later.

Wilson’s Amanda Gorby was the first to finish her match, defeating the Chargers’ Amanda Blake 6-0, 6-1 and, after reporting her scores to officials, waited for the rest of her team.

“Usually if I have that break, the rain, it ruins my adrenaline rush, but it didn’t today,” Gorby said.

Kala Guy was the next Hornet to finish, earning a 6-0, 6-1 win over Amanda Pruett on the No. 5 court.

“I think we’re really excited and I think we want it really bad, but we’ll see what happens. Even if we lose and play our best, what more can we ask for?” Guy said.

Once Guy returned from turning in her score, Wilson had won the match. Hannah Shields scored a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Melissa Baltrusaitis, Jamie Stark defeated Stephanie Hutton 6-1, 6-0 and Katie Hock won 6-1, 6-0 over Mindy Hurley.

With the victory wrapped up, the most competitive match of the day, between Wilson’s Christine Coffield and Middlesex’s Jessica Anderson, was ended midway into the second set.

Coffield had won the first set 6-4, with Anderson nipping on her heels the entire way.

“She is good,” Coffield said of Hutton. “She was in the [Group A tournament] for singles yesterday and she’s a good player. I felt that I could have done better against her, but she was good. She challenged me and had a good defensive game.]

Lovell said that he was impressed with his team’s play and thinks that the Green Hornets will go into today’s final ready for more.

“We were definitely the more talented team and sometimes, in any sport, it can be a challenge to play against a team that is a little bit less talented, you play down to there level,” Lovell said. “My four seniors are the reason we’re here, they’re an incredible group. I wish I could take more credit, but it was them that got us here.”

Wilson will face Gate City, a familiar face in the Group A finals. Gate City won five straight championships starting in 2003 before missing out on the finals last year. Lovell said that a win in today’s match would not come as easy.

“It’s going to be a battle,” Lovell said.

Middlesex coach Pete Shepherd praised his team’s effort despite the sweep, saying that his team just doesn’t see opponents of the Hornets’ caliber during the regular season.

“Tennis is not considered a district sport in our district [Tidewater] because only three schools have it,” he said. “So it’s not a top priority.”

The Chargers fared well this postseason, sweeping the Region A championships in team, doubles and singles.