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Undefeated Concord girls dominating SPC tennis
Photo by James Nix
Concord'a Sara Holbrooks smacks a backhand during her match against Mount Pleasant's Megan Black Wednesday afternoon at Les Myers Park.
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Published: October 1, 2009
The undefeated Concord High girls tennis team has been dominant this season.
Not only have the Spiders won, they haven't been challenged.
After beating second-place Mount Pleasant 8-1 Wednesday, the Spiders are 12-0 with two matches to go in the regular season.
CHS coach Jill Gardiner thought that her team would do well in the conference, but the margin of victory has been at least a little surprising.
"I don't think I expected a lot of 9-0 and 8-1 wins," she said. "I felt we would be very strong in the conference. I felt like we should on paper win the conference.
"But I'm glad to see how strong the girls are taking it. They really have taken it to an unexpected level of 9-0 and 8-1 matches. The most we've dropped is one match.
"That's been fantastic."
Even better for Concord is that Fran Bullard is the only senior on the team. Sara Holbrooks, Kathryn Brown, Madison Kay, Katherine Barnett and Maggie Teague are juniors.
"Hopefully we will not have to rebuild for a couple of years," Gardiner said.
Winning singles matches against Mount Pleasant were, in order, Holbrooks, Brown, Bullard, Sally Moore and Barnett. Taylor Carpenter won No. 4 singles for the Tigers (10-3, 10-2), who earlier lost 9-0 to Concord.
Holbrooks played No. 2 singles last year before moving up to No. 1 this season.
"She is a strong fixture to be reckoned with," Gardiner said. "She's just playing very smart, very good tennis. When you play smart tennis on top of having talent, it's really hard to beat.
"She'll be going to the conference tournament as a singles player. I'm really kind of expecting Sara to win it."
The league tournament is scheduled for Oct. 13 at Les Myers Park.
Brown plays No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles with Bullard.
"Although her singles game is still incredibly strong, she has switched her focus more on doubles this year," Gardiner said. "I think she has made a wise decision. I think that's needed. You really need a strong doubles team to kind of lead the way. She's done a phenomenal job ."
There's only one potential worry for the Spiders. Are they so much better than their SPC opponents that they might not be totally prepared for postseason play?
"That's my biggest concern," Gardiner said. "That is something I've been preaching to the girls since day one. I've been trying to mix things up and add elements into practice that give them an opportunity to play in a strong situation and play stronger competition. I'm very much worried about that. The girls know that.
"Not only from a physical point of view, but also mental. When you've been top dog all season long and the most you've dropped is 8-1, it's natural to kind of be on this high, 'no one is touching us,' you get a little cockiness to you. A little cockiness isn't a bad thing. It can be a detrimental thing on the flip side. That's just what I'm praying does not happen."
Gardiner said she has enlisted parents' help in keeping the Spiders grounded, "to not let them get any big, bloated heads. We're not going to be top dog when it comes to regional and state playoffs."
Gardiner said she is "very proud" that her team has participated in a fundraiser for The Komen Charlotte Race for the Cure for breast cancer.
"They're walking and running in the race this weekend," she said. "The girls raised money based on the number of games they've won. They won 94 of 96 games and people pledged an amount for the 94 games.
"I don't have a final amount, but I know it's several hundred dollars. It's the first time our team has really done a (charitable) fundraiser. I'm just very proud the girls have stepped up and wanted to participate."
SINGLES
Sara Holbrooks (C) d. Megan Black 6-0, 6-1
Kathryn Brown (C) d. Elizabeth Parker 6-2, 6-1
Fran Bullard (C) d. Haley Love 6-1, 6-0
Taylor Carpenter (MP) d. Madison Kay 4-6, 7-5, 10-8
Sally Moore (C) d. Sarah Walters 6-1, 6-1
Katherine Barnett (C) d. Emily Walters 6-3, 6-1
DOUBLES
Brown/Bullard (C) d. Black/Love 8-2
Holbrooks/Kay (C) d. Parker/Carpenter 8-4
Moore/Barnett (C) d. Walters/Walters 8-4
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