Tuesday, May 4
May 4, 2010Thursday, May 6
May 6, 2010
More than 20 tennis courts sat empty at University of New Orleans Thursday as the last match of the high school regional tennis tournament rallied well into the afternoon.
With the stakes being a berth in the state tournament, Terrebonne High doubles team Brooke Hebert and Jessica Cattrell outlasted Archbishop Chapelle duo Kate Sotolong and Victoria Socco in a long, three set match 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to win the consolation bracket.
After dominating the first set, the Lady Tigers struggled in the second set, falling behind 3-games-to-2 when their coach Joe McElroy joked to the pair between games, “School has already let out today; so you guys don’t have to string the match out all afternoon.”
Although the comment helped bring a more jovial mood to the struggling pair, the Chapelle team began increasing the pace of their shots and closed out the second set to tie the match at one set apiece.
“I think we were a little overconfident, and that brought us down a little bit, because they started improving their play,” said Cattrell.
However, the Tiger duo said a mandatory 10-minute break between the second and third set helped them regain their composure.
“It just cleared our minds of what we did in the second set, and we built each other up during the break,” said Hebert.
When play resumed, Terrebonne opened up a 4-games-to-1 lead in the second set and cruised to victory.
Apart from the break, Hebert believes the pair’s change in strategy helped them win the match.
In the first set, the Tigers hit deep shots, causing the Chapelle duo to begin points playing from the baseline.
“But in the third set, I started slicing it and hitting drop shots,” said Hebert.
Joining the Terrebonne pair in the state tournament will be South Lafourche’s Jamie Foret and Leah Bernard.
The Tarpons qualified by winning two matches to reach the quarterfinals of the winners’ bracket before being knocked out by Assumption – the only doubles team to beat the South Lafourche duo this season.
“The chemistry between the two is great, and that’s the most important thing in doubles – the chemistry together,” said South Lafourche coach Maurine Collins. “They’re not only good friends, but they have good insight as to what needs to be done. They work well together. They blend well together.”
The Tarpon pair have been playing together for three years and posted an 11-2 regular season record this year.
Also on the girls’ side, Central Lafourche’s No. 1 singles player Kelsey Dempster qualified for state by reaching the quarterfinals, placing her in a winner-goes-to-state match against South Lafourche junior Crystal Falgout.
The Trojan prevailed, but not without a tough match.
“We played a bunch of long points, and it was tiring me out,” said Dempster. “I got a little dizzy for one of my points, but other than that, I feel I played pretty well. She did too, because we went to deuce a lot.”
Although Falgout fell one match short of the state tournament, the junior feels this experience will help her moving forward into her senior season.
“It’s a really good experience, especially playing against such competitive tennis players,” she said. “I don’t get to hit against people like that regularly.”
Thibodaux senior Blake Thibodaux will be the only male tennis player to represent the Bayou District in the state tournament.
After losing in the quarterfinal to Joshua Marx of Brother Martin, Thibodaux rebounded to beat South Terrebonne’s Dexter Authement 6-1, 6-1 to punch his ticket to state.
Thibodaux coach Patrice Hidalgo said his Tiger learned from his loss to Marx.
“If you lose to somebody, you pick up some of their strong points, and it only enhances your weak areas,” said Hidalgo. “The loss really helped motivate him. He’s the kind of player that can change things up in a match and really knows what to do in a match.”
All of the state qualifiers will play their first match today, May 5, at UNO’s tennis courts.
Terrebonne doubles team Jessica Cattrell (left) and Brooke Hebert (right) earned a trip to the state tournament with a win at last week’s regional tournament. * Photo by RICHARD FISCHER
