Lady Govs fall short in bid for district team tennis title against Farragut

By Pete Herbert
Daily Times Correspondent

KNOXVILLE -- The better team won.

And unfortunately for William Blount girls tennis, it was Farragut.

In the District 4-AAA team finals Wednesday night, the Lady Govs fell three games to six to the Lady Admirals at Tyson Park.

"We got beat by a better team today," WB coach Marty Durand said. "I'm proud of our girls, especially the leadership of Jenni Thompson to keep us alive there and also Madison Costner, a freshman who won one in the varsity spot."

Things didn't look good from the beginning when Lady Gov standout Kylie Elliott had her hands full with Farragut's fuzz star Julie Hsu. Hsu dropped Elliot, 8-2, and it just got worse from there.

The only matches William Blount won came at the racquets of Thompson and Costner in singles play. Thompson's match was the last to finish, so she had a soldout crowd, and eked out the win, 9-8 (8-6), to force doubles play.

Thompson teamed up with Casy Gaby in doubles play and won again, 8-5, but it wasn't enough.

The Lady Govs close out the season, while Farragut advances to regional play, though Durand remains hopeful for next season. The Lady Govs, remained unbeaten for most of the regular season, are losing only one senior.

"Most of the team is freshmen and sophomores," Durand said. "It's like I told the Farragut fans, 'We finished second this year; we'll be back next year.'"