Both the McCracken County Mustangs and Lady Mustangs tennis teams will be heading to Lexington for the state tournament later this month, as they came out on top in the First Region team tennis championships on Saturday afternoon.
“This is what they work for all year long, this is why they play, so come through and pull out this win today, it was really big for all of them,” said McCracken County head coach Andy Poore. “There’s been a lot of championships in the history of McCracken County and Lone Oak, every single one of them has been different, and this one was really special for them.”
Following semifinal action in the girl’s bracket, the boy’s championship was up first, as the Mustangs took on defending champions Paducah Tilghman. While both Tilghman and McCracken would come into the championship with momentum after semifinal sweeps, defeating Murray and Calloway County respectively, it would be McCracken who got the job done on Saturday, reclaiming the title with a 4-1 victory.
“It’s just been neck-and-neck between us and Tilghman all year long, that’s another top ten team in the state, so having to go through that for a championship and being able to pull it off is a good feeling,” Poore said, on the boys’ performance. “Our singles guys did a great job of getting out to strong starts, and our doubles guys were as solid as they’ve been all year long. Everybody did their job.”
Later on in the afternoon, the Lady Mustangs would face off against the St. Mary Lady Vikings in the girl’s championship. Prior to the boy’s final, McCracken would earn their way into the championship with a win over Paducah Tilghman, while top-seeded St. Mary bested Calloway County on the other side of the bracket. The Lady Mustangs would go on to avenge a loss to the Lady Vikings suffered earlier in the season, taking the championship match by a score of 3-2.
“The girls had been a bit down since losing to St. Mary earlier, so this one meant a lot to them,” said Poole, on the Lady Mustangs’ outing. “A lot of this match came down to if our doubles could hold up even with a bit of inexperience, and they did. [Addison] Braboy and [Kate] Thompson were down 9-4 in a tiebreaker, and faced five straight match points to come back and win, it’s just incredible.”
Now, the Mustangs and Lady Mustangs will each compete at the KHSAA Team Tennis State Tournament in Lexington, which is set to begin on May 28th. Regional competition will continue this week back at the Larry J. Heflin Tennis Center next week, with singles and doubles brackets beginning on Monday.