Homewood tennis teams put together strong season
The Homewood High School girls tennis team finished off an outstanding season with a fourth-place finish at the Class 6A state tournament April 24-25 at the Jimmy Johns Tennis Center in Decatur.
“It’s really the culmination of a great season,” said Homewood tennis coach Linda Delahay. “We were euphoric.”
The icing on the cake was Homewood’s No. 1 doubles pair, Maggie White and Dina Zaher, winning a state title over the top duo from Florence. White and Zaher won the first set 6-4, before a tight second set was not decided in the normal amount of games.
“Dina’s mom and I were holding hands during the state final, encouraging them any way we could,” Delahay said. “We were just over the top [when they won].”
White and Zaher won the final set 7-6 (7-3 in the tiebreaker) to take home the title, lifting the Patriots to 29 points, trailing only Decatur (64), Florence (46) and Northridge (42).
White advanced to the finals in No. 1 singles, and Mackenzie Farrell reached the semifinals on the No. 2 line. Paige Wildt was a semifinalist at No. 4.
In Delahay’s second year coaching the tennis teams at Homewood, along with assistant Kayla Garcia, the girls improved from an 11th-place finish at the 2016 state tournament.
“It’s not one girl; it’s just the whole team,” she said. “It was astounding. It really came together, and the girls just really wanted it.”
Delahay said it was even more exciting to see the girls team win the Class 6A, Section 4 tournament the week before at Walker. White, Anna Claire Flippen, Wildt and Sophie Theos all won the section title in singles to push the Patriots to the win.
“That’s something we worked so hard for,” she said.
The girls team may be set up for even greater heights in coming years, as White, Wildt and Theos are all freshmen.
On the boys side, the Patriots snagged runner-up honors at the section tournament to qualify for state. Will Livingston, Mark Burgess, Will Ryan, Cooper McRae, Henry Randall and Fischer Hawkins all competed at state, with McRae jumping into the fire at No. 4 after Adrian Steward was injured.
Along with Emma Wildman, Emma Grace Doyal, Lydia Estes, Michael Hardin and Henry Horn, Delahay is proud of the way both teams work together on and off the court.
“All the kids follow the matches, so we’re all there cheering each other on. It’s very much a team sport, boys cheering girls, girls cheering boys. It’s really a wonderful team,” she said.