Newton girls tennis fights until the end, falls to state-ranked Clarke at team regionals

KNOXVILLE — Newton’s girls tennis team played in the regional team tournament without the services of its No. 3 singles player on Saturday.

The Cardinals were tasked with opening the tournament against the host school and then facing a ranked team in the next round if they advanced.

In the end, Newton performed admirably despite not advancing to the state tournament. The Cardinals downed the Knoxville Panthers 5-3 before ending their season with a 5-3 loss to Class 1A No. 10 Clarke.

“Words can’t do justice to how proud I am of this team,” Newton girls tennis coach Erick Zehr said. “We were big underdogs, and we took undefeated Clarke and gave them their closest match of the season. Just incredibly proud of my team and their efforts today.”

Both head-to-head duals were 3-3 after singles competition. Newton won the first two doubles matches to down Knoxville but lost the first two in the loss to the Indians.

Kya Butler remained out of the Cardinals’ lineup because of an injury, which pushed all the singles players up one spot in the lineup.

Newton got singles wins from Maggie Garrett, Lauryn Garrett and Roxanna Almazan against Knoxville.

Maggie Garrett won 6-2, 3-2 at No. 1 singles as Olivia Maasdam did not finish the match. Lauryn Garrett hammered Janie Maasdam 6-0, 6-1 in the No. 2 singles match and Almazan won a three-set match 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 at No. 5 singles to force the tie.

Ella Swarts also nearly won her No. 4 singles match but lost in three sets.

In doubles, the Garrett sisters won 6-0, 6-1 and Swarts and Olivia Hotchkin were 6-1, 6-1 winners.

Clarke is now 12-0 in dual action. The Indians came into the day with a 75-17 record in matches during dual meets this spring.

“We were winning the No. 3 doubles match that didn’t get to finish so if any one loss was flipped to a win, that last match would have been to decide the meet,” Zehr said. “As it were, we lost two close singles matches and ultimately the decisive match at No. 2 doubles was ridiculously close.”

Lauryn Garrett defeated Chailyn Beyder 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Beyder came into the day with just one loss for the season.

Almazan also won a three-set match 7-5, 6-7 (7-0), 11-9 at No. 5 singles and Madison Rinehart was a 7-5, 6-2 winner at No. 6 singles.

Clarke clinched the win with two straight-set wins in the first two doubles matches. But Hotchkin and Swarts lost 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

Hotchkin lost a tight match 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in her singles contest, too.

“Ella and Olivia were ahead 5-2 in the first set, but lost a heartbreaking tiebreaker 8-6,” Zehr said. “They battled back and almost forced a third set but came up short, and that was it.”

The only senior in the Cardinals’ lineup on Saturday was Maggie Garrett. She battled a bit of adversity and controversy in her singles match against Clarke.

“Maggie was winning the first set and there began to be some very suspect line calls, including set point that was several inches inside the line, which was really hard for her to process,” Zehr said. “She played an insanely tough match, though, and nearly clawed her way back. I can’t say enough about this girl. She is incredible.

“I’m getting emotional typing this because she’s just such a great kid, and I can’t believe I’m done coaching her.”