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Bettendorf overcomes Clinton at MAC meet

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By Jon Gremmels | Friday, May 09, 2008 | No comments posted

CLINTON, Iowa — Three tiebreaker victories in singles got Bettendorf going, and the Bulldogs followed with a pair of doubles titles to overtake Clinton and win the Mississippi Athletic Conference girls tennis title Friday at the Max Lynn Courts.

Bettendorf finished with 23 points, 3½ ahead of the River Queens. The Bulldogs prevailed even though two-time singles state champion Chrissie McGaffigan opted to play golf this spring instead of tennis.

“This means a lot to show there were five other people on the varsity with as much heart and talent,” Bettendorf’s Alyssa Curtis said, although adding, “She’s obviously better. It has made us all step up and come together and makes great things happen.”

Clinton won the first two flights in singles and had the lead midway through the final round, but Bettendorf made things interesting by winning three singles titles in tiebreakers.

“We knew it would be us and Clinton,” Curtis said. “I think a big factor was once one of us hears that one of our girls gets through it pushes the rest of us.”

Rachel Hayward started the tiebreaker run when she beat Pleasant Valley’s Kaitlin White, the top seed at No. 6 singles, 5-7, 6-0, 10-5. Hanane Bouchareb, seeded second at No. 5 singles, was next with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 win against top-seeded Megan Determan of Clinton.

Curtis, the top seed at No. 3, finished the run with a 4-6, 6-4, 10-4 win against Clinton’s Katie Crites. They were tied 4-4 in the tiebreaker before Curtis ran off the final six points. Back-to-back overhands coming in, the second of which put her ahead 6-4, were the momentum-turners, she said.

“That was the one that caused the momentum to go,” she said. “I was tentative till those went in.”

The Bulldogs had a fourth singles champion in Stowe Heiderscheit at No. 4. She beat Clinton’s Alyson Goetzl 6-1, 6-0.

Clinton still had a chance in doubles, with finalists in all three flights. But Chelsea Allbaugh and Alisha Saigal of Pleasant Valley beat Russell and Cornilsen at No. 1 doubles, and Bettendorf won a pair of head-to-head matchups at Nos. 2 and 3. Brooke Johnson and Heiderscheit beat Crites and Goetzl at No. 2, and Bouchareb and Jenna Fucell defeated Determan and Sarah Massey at No. 3.

Russell beat Allbaugh 6-2, 6-2 in No. 1 singles to complete a fourth-year run in which she went from fourth to third to second to first at No. 1 singles.

Jon Gremmels can be contacted at (563) 383-2294 or at jgremmels@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qcvarsity,com.