Chieftains are golden
Published 10:55 pm Tuesday, September 28, 2004
By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
The Dowagiac varsity tennis team continued to make history Monday afternoon as it qualified for the Big 16 Conference Tennis Tournament Gold Division by splitting with visiting Coldwater in a crossover match.
Dowagiac need a victory over the Lady Cardinals on Monday to advance to the Gold Division portion of the tournament.
In the Gold Division, Dowagiac can finish no lower than eigth place in the Big 16. The Chieftains tied for fourth in the Silver Division last year.
No Dowagiac tennis team, boys or girls, has competed in the Gold Division in the three-year history of the Big 16.
In case of a split with Coldwater, the tiebreaker would be number of sets. Since the 4-4 tie was a result of straight set victories in singles and doubles, the match was decided by the number of games lost.
Dowagiac lost 58 games against the Lady Cardinals, while Coldwater lost 65 games to the Chieftains.
Dowagiac's singles, which dropped only nine games to Coldwater on Monday, will now play at Kellogg Community College on Saturday. The Chieftain doubles teams will compete at Battle Creek Harper Creek High School.
Dowagiac returns to action this afternoon when it hosts Brandywine in a non-conference match.
Today's match with the Bobcats is another tune up for the Division 4 regional held a week from Friday at Leeper Park in South Bend, Ind.
Brandywine, which is second in the Lakeland Conference, finished third last year at the regional ahead of the Chieftains, who finished fifth.
The match is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
JV tennis
The Dowagiac junior varsity tennis team had a pretty good afternoon against host Coldwater.
In singles play, Jessica Karnes won 6-3, 4-6 and 7-6, Lily Jackson won 6-2 and 6-3, Tonya Scherer won 8-4, while Shawna Davis and Carrie Juroff were defeated in straight sets, 0-6, 1-6.
In doubles matches, Samantha Harris and Melissa Recla lost 1-6 and 2-6, Cali Null and Kate Duszynski lost 0-6 and 4-6, Samantha Stone and Heather Bankston lost 2-6 and 1-6,while Lindsay Meiser and Katie Fenech lost 3-6 and 1-6.
The junior varsity will wrap up its season on Wednesday when it hosts Cassopolis beginning at 4 p.m.