Chattanooga -- Rain Delays? Check. Cloudy Skies? Check. Last match of the regular season? Check. Indeed, on a Tuesday when the weather tried its best to put a damper on what has been a successful Scots' tennis season, players from both Covenant and King gutted out a multi-hour delay in order to play in the last match of the year. So, with courts squeegeed dry, clouds moved on, and rain falling less frequently than it had been earlier in the day, the matches finally got underway around 4:30 with doubles play coming first.
Josh Jeremiah and Garrett Reid were paired up, as usual, against King's number one doubles team of Hiroki Takagi and Juan Avila, while, for the ladies, Julia Myers and Casey Cochran took on King number ones Sarah Anderson and Crystal Harwell. Early in the run of play, both of these Covenant sides would find success, with Jeremiah and Reid's powerful shots proving too much for Takagi and Avila. Frustrated, the King duo did their best to mount a comeback, but after knotting the match at 4 games apiece, the visiting team was unable to cope with Jeremiah and Reid's stellar play as the Covenant duo won four straight to cruise to an 8-4 victory. Myers and Cochran had similar success on the other court, outlasting the King women for an 8-5 win.
Meanwhile, senior Catie Ramage was able to end her doubles career on a positive note, teaming up with sophomore Jane Shibley to down King College's Nerece Stoltz and Karissa King 8-4. Ramage also managed to take her singles game over Crystal Harwell with 6-0 and 6-2 wins from three sets. The men's lone senior, Garrett Reid, was unable to translate his doubles success into a singles victory, as he fell to Oriol Mirallas in three sets. Team-wise, the Covenant men, even with number one Josh Jeremiah defeating King's Hiroki Takagi in both singles and doubles on the day, were only able to add a John Hirte singles win to Jeremiah's brace, and lost 3-6 overall. Jane Shibley and Julia Myers added singles victories to the women's tally, as the team edged King by 5 games to 4. The overall victory pushed the ladies' season record to 10-8, giving them a winning record for the year. The men, even with the loss, finish the regular season at a similar 10-9.
The men, though, will not be too disappointed, as just hours after the matches had ended both the men's and women's teams discovered they had earned bids to the 2010 NCCAA National Tournament at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama. Garrett Reid, especially, will relish the opportunity, as he can look to end his career in style with a few nationals' victories in Mobile. As for the women, they chose to decline the invitation because the tournament, which takes place after school is over from May 10-13, conflicted with too many of the player's summer class schedules. At the least, Catie Ramage was able to end her career on Tuesday with victories over King. "The feeling is bittersweet," Ramage was heard saying after the match. But if asked whether or not she ended her career on a high, she can reply with a simple, "Check."
