Sue Bartlett, GPS, TennisThe best days for coaches are those when they can't find anything negative to say about their teams, which is why Sunday was a day of bliss for GPS tennis coach Sue Bartlett.
Her Bruisers placed all six players in the Division II-AA state tournament field for the upcoming Spring Fling with their performances in this weekend's East/Middle region tournament at Baylor. Although not having any champions, they had third- and fifth-place finishes, which qualifies them for state.
Area champions in the event were Baylor's Anderson Scarpa in boys' singles and Harper Caswell and Mary Walker Mixon in girls' doubles, and McCallie's Bobby Brouner and Daniel Pare in boys' doubles. Brouner was the 2011 state singles runner-up.
Scarpa continued his successful season by roaring through the regional field. The Mercer University signee dropped only 10 games in three matches over the weekend.
In addition to McCallie's doubles title, the Blue Tornado's Luke Orthner and Evan Watkins took fourth in the doubles bracket.
GPS's Michelle Fleenor took third in the girls' singles bracket, while Danielle Simms rallied to defeat Baylor's Christine Palisoc 2-6, 6-3, 10-7. Simms saved four match points in the tiebreaker of her previous match to defeat Harpeth Hall's Elizabeth LeBlue 3-6, 6-2, 11-9.
In addition, Emma McCallie and Hannah Morrow of GPS placed third in doubles, while Mary Claire Spann and Brighton Goodhue were fifth.
"For all six players to go to state is a good thing for us," Bartlett said. "Danielle did such a good job of coming back in her matches today; I think the whole day was a confidence builder for us. We've got some good tennis ahead and a couple of weeks to practice for it."
Baylor's girls qualified five team members, with McCall Morgan and Maggie Crumbliss joining Caswell and Mixon as doubles finalists. Samantha Caswell drew ill during the tournament and was forced to forfeit her final two matches, which gives the 2011 region champion and state semifinalist a five seed going into the state tournament this season.
"I'm pleased with what we did today," Lady Red Raiders coach Dustin Kane said. "We fought hard and it was hot outside; I think that our conditioning has paid off in that we were able to go the distance in our matches today."
As for Samantha Caswell's illness, "What can you do?" Kane said. "You can't play sick. She's a great player and she's going to play no matter what her seed is going into state, but we're more focused on the team state tournament. The individual state is more practice as far as we're concerned, because we're putting all of our energy into winning the team state.
"Any individual honors we get is a bonus."
Baylor freshman Jack Gray missed the tournament due to his participation in a USTA tournament, but the Red Raiders did qualify Marko Mandic and Eric Roddy (second in doubles) and Jackson Pride and Bo Brynteson (fourth in doubles) in addition to Scarpa.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.