Sports

Lady Knights tennis eyes history

• The Lady Knights begin their journey into the school’s history books today as they seek to become the first team in school history to win three state titles in a row.

Danny Aller

ALBANY — The talk started nearly one year ago today — and it’s a conversation that’s still not finished.

The Deerfield-Windsor School girls tennis team had just wrapped up its second consecutive GISA Class AAA state championship in Augusta — and third in the last four years — when longtime coach Meredith Gruhl alerted her girls that they now were on the verge of something potentially historic.

“It was like the minute after we won when I reminded them of one important thing,” said Gruhl, who told her team that while two state titles were a swell accomplishment, next season the Lady Knights — who would return six of their seven starters — had a chance to be the first athletic program, boys or girls, in DWS history to win three consecutive state titles. “Sure enough, you could see they realized how great that would be, so we enjoyed it for the moment, but not a one of them rested on their laurels.

“In fact, I think they only took a week off before like they were right back on the courts.”

Which makes today's opening of the Region 3-AAA tournament at Darton College a moment that will begin to bring the Lady Knights’ (11-1, 4-0 in region) journey into the DWS history books full circle as they take that first step in defending the conference crown.

“(Today) marks a year in the making — a year of waiting to see if we can do what we set out to do,” said DWS No. 1 doubles player Haley Fulford, a junior, who also won the individual doubles title with partner Taylor Hawke — the only members of the Lady Knights to take home an individual state title to go along with the team championship last year. “Whether it was over the summer last year, or in the halls at school, every time we'd see coach Gruhl it was, ‘Are you girls ready? Are you playing tennis?

“Remember, we have to make history.’ So, all year, she kept the pressure on us, but it was nothing we can’t handle.”

After all, the Lady Knights have been there before, and all signs from their 2008 regular season point to them going back.

The one loss to their record came in a defeat DWS suffered in the season opener against Class AA Frederica Academy. But since then, they’ve reeled off 11 wins in a row, including a perfect region record with victories against the likes of Westfield, Southland and Sherwood — the same three teams the Lady Knights will face today. In fact, not a one of the Lady Knights' region foes has recorded more than one point during any of their dual matches this season.

“After we lost that first match, it actually was like they turned a negative into a positive,” said Gruhl, who has coached both the boys and girls team since 1987, leading them to nine state titles overall — five girls, four boys. “Because we lost once last year as well, the girls told themselves that this wasn't a big deal and that they were right on the same path as they were last year when they won it — as long as they won the next 11 matches.”

Not only have they gone undefeated the rest of the way coming into today’s region tournament, the Lady Knights have rarely been tested.

No. 1 singles player Sonya Belakhlef is perfect in region play and is 10-2 on the season overall. No. 2 Sarah Schatz is also unbeaten in 3-AAA and has suffered just one defeat thus far.

But it gets better.

The defending state champion No. 1 doubles team of Hawke/Fulford hasn’t lost all season, nor has the No. 2 team of Kelly Hoopes and Sarah Kitchen. The only question mark for the Lady Knights is at No. 3 singles and newcomer Lucy Kelly. Kelly, an eighth-grader who filled the only starting-spot void from the 2007 state title team of senior Addie Jenkins, has gone .500 in her matches so far this year.

Still, Gruhl says this year’s team could actually be better overall than the one from 2007.

“I’d say we might be stronger than last year because while we only lost one match last season, every match — every set — was closer and more contested,” Gruhl said. “But this year, the same matches our girls would win 6-4 and 7-6 last season, they’re winning 6-0 and 6-1 now. It's little intangibles like that which have been the biggest difference this year.”

And while it’s scary to think DWS has actually gotten stronger, handing the region title to the Lady Knights before the matches ever get going would certainly be premature.

But there’s not anyone on Deerfield's team who is shy about liking their chances.

“We don’t anticipate any problems and I think we’re all pretty calm, cool and collected. We’re just ready to take that next step,” said Hawke, a senior who has won three individual state titles and three team titles in her five years since she joined in middle school. “But I also think that because our road to the region title has been pretty easy in the past, we have a tendency to overlook it. So we’ve all been reminding each other these past few weeks that history can wait — first things first.”

The top four individual boys and girls finishers in each bracket at the region tournament will advance to the individual state tournament a week from today in Tifton, while the winning overall teams from today's region tournament will advance to play in the GISA Class AAA Final Four on April 30 in Augusta.

And it is there — because the GISA rotated the regions this year, just as it does every year — that Gruhl says she may begin to get a little worried.

After all, potentially meeting DWS in the Final Four semis likely will be none other than Augusta Prep — the team that beat the Lady Knights in the 2005 state championship after DWS had won it in 2004, and stopping what could’ve been the beginning of a tennis dynasty in Albany.

“(Augusta Prep) is always good and they’re the one team we seem to meet in the finals, and they used to seem unbeatable to us,” said Hawke, whose Lady Knights shut out Augusta in last year’s championship showdown, winning the first three matches and thus locking up the state title without even having to play the final two. “But we've overcome them before, and hopefully we’ll just do what we did to them last year again.”

Yet, for Gruhl, winning another state title and bringing it back to an already competitive household — Gruhl’s husband Gordy is the school’s athletic director, as well as the boys basketball and golf coach — would be extra special. After all, she’d finally get back that upper hand she lost when the day after DWS won the state tennis title last year, Gordy’s golf team accomplished the same feat.

“He called me an — without even saying, ‘Hello,’ or ‘We won!’ ” Gruhl began, “he just said two words: ‘ “We’re even.’ ”

And while that may be, if the Lady Knights continue to steamroll their way to the DWS history books, it won’t be true for long.

Back to today's Sports>>