Megan Wright simply stumbled out of the gate, falling in straight games in the opening set at the No. 3-slot for Western Albemarle’s girls tennis team.
But that stumble didn’t last long.
In the second set the resilient Wright settled down and gutted out a three set victory. In the process, she helped set the stage for the Warriors’ 5-2 victory over James Monroe in the Group AA quarterfinals that launches Western into the state final four in Blacksburg later this week.
“She got a slow start, I think she was a little nervous and she had trouble moving her feet and getting into the match,” said Western coach Ellen Markowitz. “But she came out second set and started playing a lot better.”
Wright started honing in on identifying the different spins that savvy opponent Erin Dyer put on the ball and rolled 6-0, 6-1 in the final two sets. The win put the Warriors up 3-0 as Western’s top two players, Cari Bland and Emily Kochard, had already wrapped up wins at the top of the ladder.
“They’re both gamers and Emily has matured a lot as a player — she’s gained a lot of experience and taken her game to a new level this year in some ways,” Markowitz said. “Cari is so much more mentally tough, it’s exciting to see her play great matches.”
Both won in straight sets with Kochard posting a 6-1, 6-1 victory while Bland won 6-3, 6-1.
After Wright wrapped up her day, Hannah Laub gave Western the critical fourth victory at the No.5 spot in the ladder. Laub won 6-1, 6-4 for the win that set the Warriors up to finish off the match with just a single doubles win.
“Hannah’s win was a big one for us,” Markowitz said. “(James Monroe) is really good. I’d thought that the bottom four, five and six was going to be really tough because they won those three in their last match. Fortunately we pulled out five and that helped us a lot.”
Stephanie Barton and Claire Park each fell at the fourth and sixth slots, with Park falling in three sets in a particularly tough match against a hard-hitting opponent in Alicia Paulose who simply refused to go away. By the time she’d lost though, Western’s No. 1 doubles team of Kochard and Bland were in control, up a set and in sight of closing out the match. They did just that, winning 6-1, 6-3 to wrap up a strong performance by both players.
“They’ve just been playing really great tennis,” Markowitz said. “They’ve really been seizing the moment.”
Now the Warriors will get a chance to seize the moment in the final four down in Blacksburg where Western will face Spotswood Friday at noon.
WAHS 5, James Monroe 2
1. Emily Kochard (WAHS) def. Audrey Dyer (JMHS) 6-1, 6-1
2. Cari Bland (WAHS) def. Monica Mitchell (JMHS) 6-3, 6-1
3. Megan Wright (WAHS) def. Erin Dyer (JMHS) 0-6, 6-0, 6-1
4. Alicia Paulose (JMHS) def. Claire Park (WAHS) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
5. Hannah Laub (WAHS) def. Emmie Snead (JMHS), 6-1, 6-4
6. Sarah Frank (JMHS) def. Stephanie Barton (WAHS) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
1. Kochard & Bland (WAHS) def. Dyer & Dyer (JMHS), 6-1, 6-3
