Samantha Caswell was one of the Baylor players winning in both doubles and singles in Thursday's 6-1 defeat of GPS.After Baylor rallied to win the doubles point in its Division II-AA East/Middle Region tennis match Thursday against rival Girls Preparatory School, the prevailing thought was that six long, hard-fought singes matches would determine the region champion.
The Lady Red Raiders put an end to that thinking fairly quickly.
Baylor claimed five straight-set victories to win its 35th straight team match and its third consecutive region championship. The Lady Raiders defeated the Bruisers 6-1.
GPS (10-2, 2-1) held leads in all three doubles matches, including a match point in one, but Baylor's girls claimed two 8-6 wins and a 9-7 victory.
Samantha Caswell, Maggie Crumbliss, McCall Morgan, Drew Hawkins and Ashton Jenne then won in singles for Baylor (10-1, 3-0), with none dropping more than five games in 10 sets.
"We went in expecting battles at every position," Baylor coach Dustin Kane said. "I don't know what happened. All of the girls stepped up and played great. We expected a dogfight, which the matches still were. GPS always makes it competitive.
"I'm thrilled with the outcome."
Michelle Fleenor claimed the Bruisers' lone win, defeating Harper Caswell 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
"We played them really close in doubles, and I felt that we had a chance," GPS coach Sue Bartlett said. "Baylor turned it up, though; I definitely thought the matches would have been tighter."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.