Kaylin Gibson
Sports are a game of inches, as the Delta girls tennis team found out the hard way Saturday afternoon.
A match that finished nearly six hours after it started because of weather delays left the No. 10 Eagles heartbroken as they fell to No. 15 Fairfield 3-2 in semistate, just inches away from advancing to the state finals.
The Eagles did see one of their doubles teams keep its season alive. No. 1 doubles team Teaghan Dishman and Kaylin Gibson improved to 23-3 and will advance to the state finals June 12 at Park Tudor in Indianapolis, as the the duo is 5-0 in postseason play.
Maggie Thompson came excruciatingly close to winning at No. 2 singles, but Fairfield’s Morgan Mast held off three match points in the second set before prevailing 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. On one of the match points, Mast hit a big forehand that hit the line, nearly giving Delta (24-3) the win and state berth.
“I’m incredibly proud of Maggie to call that ball in,” Delta coach Tim Cleland said. “It’s tempting on state point to call it out. I’ve seen others do it, and it would’ve been easy for her to do it, but she didn’t.”
The day started at Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., but after several weather delays, the match had to be moved to an indoor facility. This hurt Thompson (25-2), who was in control against Mast (who has only lost once this season) at 7-5, 4-1 when play was halted.
“You look back on those things and you’re like, ‘Oh man,’” Cleland said. “If we have 15 more minutes of outdoor tennis, it looked like we would’ve won. Things were certainly going our way outdoors.”
The Eagles’ two wins both came in doubles play. Dishman and Gibson earned a 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 1 doubles, while Sarah Ogle and Emily Decker earned a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 2. Emma Snider (No. 1 position) and Grace Belangee (No. 3) dropped singles matches.
Delta finished the season 24-3 against what Cleland called “the toughest schedule we’ve played.” Cleland said he wasn’t disappointed in the outcome because he felt the Eagles prepared as best they could and performed exceptionally.
“It was two incredibly evenly-matched teams, and it was very hard-fought over a long day,” he said.