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Greenfield's McCall repeats as district singles champion
Stephanie Sturgis - Press Sports Editor
For Westview, the duo of Jared Towe and Zach Bell competed together vying for the boys doubles championship. For Greenfield, Lady Yellow-jackets Katie McCall and Mal-lory Robinson squared off against each other with the girls singles title on the line. Both McCall and Robinson and the Charger duo of Bell and Towe have earned the right to compete in the Region 7 A-AA tournament to be held next Monday afternoon at the University School of Jackson courts in Jackson. Towe and Bell ended the afternoon as the runners-up in the district, falling to the Peabody High School tandem of Tucker Glidewell and Thomas Adams. The Westview duo lost 5-7, 6-2, 4-6. With two of his players on the court on each side of the net, Lady Jacket tennis coach Bill McCall was left in a quandary. "I just watched today," Coach McCall joked of how he dealt with his split loyalties. Playing in her fourth consecutive District 14 A-AA girls singles championship game, McCall used her experience to her advantage to repeat as district champion, winning by a score of 6-2, 6-3. McCall, who has played the past four seasons as the Lady Jackets' No. 1 singles player, held off her teammate, who was Greenfield's No. 2 singles player throughout the season. The defending champ looked comfortable in the first set, cruising to a 6-2 advantage. In the second set, Robinson, a victor in several marathon singles matches during the regular season, found a groove and pushed her teammate. McCall led 4-3 before winning the final two games to take the second set at 6-3. "They didn't like playing against each other. I'm proud of both of them to make it to the finals," Coach McCall said. In the boys doubles match, the Chargers grabbed a lead in all three sets, but only managed to finish off the Peabody team in the second set. Bell and Towe led 3-1 in the first set before allowing the Tide pair to rise up and win, 7-5. The Chargers took control in the second set, forcing the Peabody players into repeated return errors, resulting in a 6-2 win for Westview. The WHS duo jumped on top 4-2 in the third set, but from that point on struggled to show a killer instinct. The Chargers allowed Glidewell and Thomas to get on a roll and take the district boys doubles title with a 6-4 victory in the third set. "They were up in both sets they lost. They just couldn't stop Peabody's momentum," Westview head tennis coach Ed Baker said.
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