Notre Dame splits in tennis at Chattanooga Christian

Friday, January 1, 1904

photo Notre Dame's Danika Dorris plays against Chattanooga Christian's Allie Sullivan Tuesday at CCS.

The Chattanooga Christian girls' tennis team picked a perfect time to put together the almost perfect match.

The Lady Chargers clinched their 12th district championship in 13 seasons Tuesday with a 7-2 home victory over defending Class A/AA state champion Notre Dame. The Irish boys clinched at least a share of the District 7-A/AA boys' crown with a 7-2 defeat of the Chargers.

CCS's Ellie Henry teamed with her sister Hannah to defeat the Joyce sisters -- Katie and Sarah -- in doubles, then defeated Katie 8-4 in singles. That victory started a run of five consecutive wins for the Lady Chargers (10-1, 5-0), followed by Hannah Henry, Caroline Redburg, Emmie Cornell and Gracie Smith. Redburg's victory clinched the match for CCS.

Both teams had defeated Signal Mountain 6-3 in district matches, so Ellie Henry knew to expect a battle.

"I thought we really came out strong today," she said. "We all played the way that we should, and I'm proud of how things turned out. Notre Dame is the hardest competition we've played all year."

Danika Dorris won in singles and teamed with Allyson Ross to win at No. 2 doubles for the Lady Irish (10-1, 3-1).

The Notre Dame boys (11-0, 4-0) got singles wins from Charles Jabaley, J.R. Davis, Thomas Gaudin, Jay Nguyen and Christian San Miguel. Rett Bryant and the doubles team of Joe Sliger and Tommy Howell claimed the two victories for the Chargers (9-3, 3-2).

Davis rallied from deficits of 4-0 and 5-2 to claim an 8-6 win at No. 2 singles.

"I'm proud of the boys," Notre Dame coach Nancy Fox said. "I was very pleased with our performance. We were able to get a freshman out there [Nick Coronis] that hasn't played a lot this season, and J.R. had a big comeback for us at No. 2."