Wilson falls to George Mason

By Cody Clifton Correspondent
Published: May 24, 2008

FISHERSVILLE — Wilson Memorial was prepared to avenge a 5-1 regional loss to George Mason during the 2007 season and after singles, the Hornets looked good to meet their goal, up 4-2. But the Hornets didn’t quite have enough falling, 5-4 after the doubles.
“Somebody has to go home,” Wilson coach Marcy Baker said. “We gave them a run for their money. We knew they were going to be tough and we just came up on the short end of the stick.”
The Mustangs took the top two spots, winning at No.1 and No. 2 by the score of 6-2, 6-1. The Hornets were able to capture the next four singles to take the lead going into doubles.
At number four singles, Kala Guy took the first set for the Hornets by a score of 6-4 after fighting to hold on after George Mason’s Claire Sedmak was down 5-2 and fought back to 5-4. Guy was starting to let the second set get away, dropping a game for the match and giving Sedmak another opportunity.
On the deciding game, Guy served. Sedmak was able to work the game back to deuce. Deuce after deuce after deuce, they were still playing. Guy launched a serve into the box on another match point, Sedmak returned it to the center of the court and Guy placed the ball right down the line to win the match, 6-4, 6-2.
“I tried to keep myself pumped up and ready for every point,” Guy said. “I just tried to play smart.”
Wilson only had to capture one of the doubles matches to win and advance to next Saturday in the Region III team tournament.
No. 1 doubles featured a match up between Christine Coffield and Jamie Stark for the Hornets against Michelle Repper and Annie Zweighaft for the Mustangs. Neither team was able to break serve as both teams stayed game on game and point on point towards the end of the first half.
Wilson dropped the first set, 7-5, after Mason broke one Wilson service game. That set broke the spirit of the Hornets as the Mustangs cruised to a 6-3 second set victory to make the team score, 4-3.
No. 2 doubles set up a match between the Hornets’ Hannah Shields and Guy and the Mustangs’ Kelsey Kane and Sedmak. Guy couldn’t get the best of Sedmak this time around as George Mason took another match, 7-5, 6-1 to even the match score at 4.
Enter No. 3 doubles. It was do or die for both teams. The pressure was on for Amanda Gorby and Haley Squier not to let the Mustangs come back to take the match. It looked bleak for the Hornets after Gorby and Squier dropped the first set, 6-0.
The team changed their game plan, both playing on the base line instead of at the net. This change set up a tiebreaker to determine whether a third set would be played or if Mason would move on. George Mason cruised in the tiebreaker by a score of 7-2 to win the match, 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) and to win the team match up, 5-4.