Signal coach sees upside of deep postseason run
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Signal Mountain boys’ tennis coach Jordan Willcutt had a plan for Wednesday’s Class A/ AA state championship match against Christian Academy of Knoxville.
That plan didn’t go the way he had envisioned.
The Eagles lost 4-1 in their first appearance in the title match, just their second loss in 13 matches this season.
Willcutt felt good about Signal’s chances at certain positions while knowing his team needed an advantage if it came down to doubles. That didn’t happen, because the only singles win for the Eagles came from Thomas Thelen at No. 3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 over Davis Brady.
The Eagles’ Roger Troombley, Gabe Williams and Grant Williams lost, and CAK’s Ethan Fussell and Reed Bristow won 8-5 against Grant Williams and Thelen to seal the team result. Signal’s Carson Williams was even in the third set when the overall match was called.
“We came in thinking that matches three, four and five would be our clinchers,” Willcutt said. “We knew Gabe’s match would be close, but we had to have three singles (wins) because of how good their (No. 1) doubles team is, and that puts added pressure on people not expecting it to have to go out and try to go with the changing flow of the match.”
Willcutt loses one senior from his first team, and next year Signal enters the new Division I small classification, in which the program expects to have similar success.
“We knew we had the ability to get here — not necessarily to the final, but to state,” Willcutt said. “We’ve never been here before, but to say we’re one of the top two teams in the state, I think means a lot to the kids, the program itself.
“The kids are melancholy now, it hurts a bit, but when the initial hurt wears off, we’ll see how proud they should be and how big of a deal it is.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.