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FROM THE ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES: Cougars drop first tennis match

Asheville High knocked out of state playoffs
by Marcus Bivens, STAFF WRITER
published November 2, 2005 6:00 am

ASHEVILLE — For the third consecutive year, Asheville High’s girls tennis team saw its season end in the quarterfinals of the state championship as the Cougars lost 5-4 to Charlotte Catholic o­n Tuesday afternoon at Asheville High’s tennis courts.

Asheville (18-1) followed a trend that has become all too familiar as the Cougars watched their season come down to the No. 3 doubles match for the second consecutive year.

“This is kinda like deja vu,” said Asheville’s No. 2 singles player Christiane Pheil, a junior. “We knew going into today that this was a big hurdle for us.”

In Asheville’s last two quarterfinal appearances, the Cougars were defeated by Hickory High. But this year the Cougars faced an unfamiliar foe after Charlotte Catholic (18-7), which moved up to Class 3-A this year, defeated the Tornadoes in the second round of the postseason.

Asheville got off to a strong start Tuesday as undefeated Pheil and Alexa Ely (No. 1) routed Charlotte Catholic’s Caroline Kattner (6-0, 6-1) and Liz Tans (6-3, 6-2). But Ely and Pheil would be the o­nly Cougars to earn singles victories as Charlotte Catholic came away with team points in spots three through six.

“I knew their depth was very good going into (today),” Asheville head coach Buster Brown said after the game. “They had three seniors in their starting six, so their poise and experience was key for them.”

Going into doubles play, Asheville needed to win three matches in a row to move o­n to the state semifinals. In No. 1 doubles, Pheil and Ashley Brown proved to be too much for the 2005 3-A championship duo of Kattner and Leahy, as the Asheville team earned a 10-3 win. A victory from Ely and Nicole Powell over Sarah Trantmann and Tans left both teams with four points a piece.

That set the stage for the pivotal No. 3 doubles match between Miah McClinton and Libba McKinsey and Charlotte Catholic’s Woodward and unranked senior Katie Knish.

“I knew it was real close but I tried not to think about it,” said 14-year-old McKinsey.
McClinton and McKinsey took a commanding 4-1 lead over Katie Knish and Woodward. So comfortable was the local pair that they later admitted feeling overconfident, but Knish and Woodward eventually rallied to take five of the next six games.

The Charlotte Catholic duo took advantage of its momentum with consistent net play allowed the visitors to collect the 10-5 victory and a berth in the state semifinals o­n Thursday.

“We got a little ahead of ourselves, and the other team started putting more effort into (the set),” admitted McClinton.

“It got really sticky at the end,” said Charlotte Catholic coach Jo Cabana. “We’ve been practicing doubles all year long — It’s a thing we really focus o­n. So coming into the doubles, I was confident we would win at least o­ne… Asheville’s a strong team. They really made us play for it. Five to four, it really doesn’t get much closer than that.”

Contact Marcus Bivens via e-mail at mbivens@ashevill.gannett.com.