WEDDINGTON MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS TENNIS IS SIMPLY PERFECT

The Weddington Middle School girl’s tennis team finished the 2009 season with a perfect 12-0 record with a victory over Grace Academy. The win gave Weddington its first perfect season in the history of the Middle School Girls Tennis program.

Third year coach Nichole Swope and her assistant Todd Clemmons began preparing the team early in July by holding three weeks of pre season practices to get the team ready for a tough schedule.  Twenty girls tried out for twelve positions on the team. 

The Wildcats were anchored by seventh grader Heidi Swope; a top ranked USTA player and reigning Girls 12’s North Carolina State Doubles Champion.  Swope dominated the #1 singles flight going 12-0 on the season in singles and 10-0 in doubles.  Eighth graders Lacy Hunter, Amanda Huben and Dailyn Wysinger had a combined record of 32-4 for the Wildcats in their twelve singles matches at 2, 5 and 6 singles.   Sixth grade twins Carra and Caytie Clemons also dominated their 3 and 4 singles flights going 12-0 and 11-1 for the season in singles while going undefeated as a doubles team. 

In eleven of the twelve matches, Weddington won at least five of the six singles flights, giving them the match win prior to playing the three flights of doubles. This allowed Coach Swope to play her 7-12 players in doubles, earning her younger players valuable match experience.  Doubles teams of Hayley Hinson and Cameron Turner, Jillian Paris and Ketika Tyagi, and Hayley Murray and Kendall Yelverton combined for a record of 20 and 7 for the season. 

What makes the perfect record even more remarkable is that Weddington competed against only two other public schools.  Marvin Ridge and Cuthbertson are the only other schools in Union County that offer Girls Tennis at the middle school level, so Coach Swope and Clemons scheduled nine of their matches against  Charlotte area private schools.  The perfect record came with victories over Charlotte Latin, Charlotte Prep, Cannon School, Covenant Day, and Grace Academy in addition to Marvin Ridge and Cuthbertson. 

“This is a truly special group of girls”, is what Coach Swope had to say about her team.  “Each and every girl on our team had the desire to get better, and the confidence that they could win every time they set foot on the court. This was evident in several matches that our girls came from behind and took the game to tie breakers.  Throughout the season, seven individual matches went to tiebreakers, and our girls won six of them.  That is a testament to the mental toughness and focus of our girls.”

Next year the team with be returning eight of the twelve members.  Coach Swope and Clemons will be returning with three of their top six singles players in Heidi Swope, Carra Clemons and Caytie Clemons.  Also returning are Hayley Hinson, Cameron Turner, Jillian Paris, Ketika Tyogi and Kendall Yelverton.  This should ensure a successful season in 2010 for the Wildcats.