Published: May 06, 2008 02:46 pm            

Godley advances to semifinals

AUSTIN — James Crutchley and Cortney McFarlin gave Godley High School its first mixed doubles state tournament victory Monday after winning a second set tiebreaker 7-4 to defeat Emily Eggleston and Hugo Quatrochi of Edgewood High School, 6-4, 7-6.

Due to a rain delay, Crutchley and McFarlin had to endure a five-hour wait from their originally scheduled 11:30 a.m. start time before stepping onto Court 7 at the Penick-Alison Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.

Once the match started, Crutchley double-faulted twice and was broken on his first serve to fall behind 0-1. However, the Wildcats broke Eggleston’s serve to even the score, then broke another Edgewood serve to pull ahead for good in the first set.

Both teams struggled to hold serve in the second set, as the serving team lost the first six games. With Godley serving for the match at 5-3, Edgewood fought off multiple match points to win the game, and then held serve to knot the second set at 5-5.

“We know it could have been a little easier not going into a tiebreaker, but we just had to stay up and keep

fighting,” McFarlin said.

“We were down for a little bit, but we just got ourselves back in and just played our game,” Crutchley added.

In the second set tiebreaker, Godley jumped out to a 4-1 lead before giving up three consecutive points to Edgewood that tied the tiebreaker at four.

The Wildcats won the rest of the points to punch their ticket into the semifinals.

“We’re fired up and really excited to get past the first round,” Godley head coach Debbie McFarlin said. “They played really well today.”

The pair of Wildcat seniors will take on defending Class 2A mixed doubles champions Kendra Casey and Jake Russ of Franklin High School in the semifinals.

“We just have to stay positive,” Cortney McFarlin said. “It’s going to be pretty stiff competition, but we’re going to go out there and play our hardest and leave everything on the court.”

On the other side of Austin at the Lakeway World of Tennis at Hills Country Club, the Alvarado mixed doubles pair of Daniel Kil and Megan Billings was ousted in the first match by Adam Chirhart and Hillary Davis of Austin Lake Travis, 6-2, 6-0.

“We played a solid match,” Alvarado head coach Tom Dumper said. “A few points and a few breaks go our way, we get the first set. Lake Travis played a little nervous at first, but they got rolling after that. They just had two really solid players.

“Across the board, from the kids who lost in the first round at district to Megan and Daniel, we did what we were supposed to do. We got some great results, and Daniel and Megan played real well at the state tournament. I’d characterize the season as very productive.”

        

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