The Caldwell County Lady Tigers took both the girls’ singles title and the girls’ doubles title on their way to the team title at the regional tennis tournament’s final night Tuesday in Henderson. Belle Englebright won the girls’ singles title for the 3rd year in a row, while her teammates Maddie Morgan and Chasie Phelps picked up the girls’ doubles crown.
In singles play Tuesday evening, Englebright began the night beating Marissa Austin 6-0, 6-3 in one semifinal. Englebright was in control of the match throughout, and was never seriously threatened in the match. In the other semifinal, Hopkinsville’s Riley Fort cruised by Caldwell County’s Kaylee McEnaney, winning in straight sets 6-0, 6-1. All four semifinalists advance on to the state tennis tournament.
The championship match was a rematch from the 2018 semifinals, as Belle Englebright took on Riley Fort. The result was much the same as it was in 2018, with Englebright taking the championship by a score of 6-1, 6-0.
In doubles play, the night began with a quarterfinal match that did not get to be played Monday evening due to time constraints. Hopkinsville’s Skylar Ray and Sophie Maddux earned their state tournament trip and advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Madisonville’s Dani Cruz and Riley Marsh.
The win for Ray and Maddux set up a semifinal match with the top seeded duo of Caldwell County’s Maddie Morgan and Chasie Phelps. Morgan and Phelps were on their game early and rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win to advance to the title match. In the other semifinal, Hoptown’s Ella Lester and Allie Fort won handily over the #3 seed Kally Priest and Isabelle Wright, of Henderson County. All four semifinal pairs will be advancing to the state tournament.
In the girls doubles title match, which was the last match of the tournament to be completed, Morgan and Phelps had to come from behind in the second set to pick up the title. The duo took the first set from Lester and Fort 6-2. Lester and Fort were leading 4-3 in the second set before Morgan and Phelps took the final three games to pick up the championship.
After all the points were added up at the end of the night, Caldwell County was the region team champion, with Hopkinsville finishing second.
