The Union City girls’ tennis team took a giant step on the path toward a familiar destination on Monday.
School Communications Director Mike Hutchens said the Lady Tornadoes beat Obion Central 5-0 in what was essentially a De facto District 14A championship match at the Union City Middle School courts.
Union City (13-4) can officially lock up the program’s sixth consecutive district title and 28th in school history with another victory today against visiting Greenfield in the Tornadoes’ regular-season finale.
Senior Day ceremonies will begin at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, with matches to follow at 4:00.
The Lady Tornadoes won the rubber match of three meetings this season with Obion County, getting solid and gritty play from each of their top five players in singles competition on Monday.
No. 2 seed Dani Frankum and fifth seed Lexi Petty were especially impressive, each rolling to straight-set victories. Frankum won 6-2, 6-4 over Hannah Taylor, while fifth-seeded Petty bested Libby Carman 6-2, 6-1.
Top seed Davey Frankum was pushed by Elizabeth Woody before winning a first-set tiebreaker (7-5) and then closing out the match with a 6-3 triumph in the second set.
There were nail-biters at the No. 3 and 4 spots, with Union City’s Bertie Jenkins and Allie Vincent rallying to claim thrilling wins in hotly-contested marathon matches vs. quality foes that lasted nearly two hours.
Vincent came back to take a 7-3 tiebreaker in the first set before winning her match 6-4 vs. Lindsey Webb.
Jenkins’ triumph was a memorable one as she rallied after dropping the first set to Hannah Strauser, claiming the second set 6-4 and then outlasting her challenging foe 14-12 in the tiebreaker after once trailing 9-4 and being just one point from defeat.
“Bertie showed great mental strength to come back like that,” first-year Tornado head coach Maddie Britt said. “We had several tiebreakers that kept our girls on their toes and everyone engaged.
“It really was a total team effort. Our girls came back with a lot of fire after last week’s loss to them. They hustled and anticipated every point. I could not be prouder of them.”
