North and South back in tennis sectional final

May 20—"Return to normalcy" was a slogan that helped Warren G. Harding become President of the United State in 1920.

Harding's presidency was less than a success, but 102 years later that slogan worked fine for Janet Rowe and Amanda Lubold on Thursday as their high school girls tennis teams earned spots in Friday's sectional championship match.

Moving to the Brickway Tennis and Pickleball Bubble for the second straight night, Lubold's Terre Haute North team knocked off defending sectional champion and 2021 state finalist Sullivan by a 3-2 score and Rowe's Terre Haute South team blanked West Vigo 5-0 in semifinal matches.

And very little is more normal than North vs. South for the championship of the tennis sectional.

"They all played well," Rowe said of her Braves after the shutout win. "They played their game, they stayed patient . . . they did what they needed to do."

"They all played their hearts out," West Vigo coach Kasey Chew, "which is what I expected them to do.

"It's been a strange season," Chew continued, mentioning rainouts and lack of outdoor practices early in the season, "but it was a winning [regular] season."

Rowe was speaking while watching the decisive matches of the North-Sullivan competition, and smiled when asked for whom she was rooting. "Either way, they're a tough team and we'll have to bring our game," the South coach said.

North had beaten Sullivan 3-2 during the regular season, but both teams had different lineups then and the Golden Arrows were without undefeated Paige Chickadaunce for that match.

Hanna Burkhart, also undefeated, won her match Thursday and yielded her indoor court to Chickadaunce, while the North and Sullivan No. 1 doubles teams also played early. After losing the first set, the Golden Arrow duo looked ready to send that match to a third set when North's Maylee Brown and Kenley Shoults won the last four games of the second set and prevailed 6-4, 7-5.

"We definitely came together and played smart," Shoults said when asked about that comeback. "We were trying to find open court, put away balls and get our first serves in . . . we tried to keep our energy high."

"We had a tough few games, but we came back with positivity and encouragement," Brown said. "We kept our spirits up, and that's what got us back."

With Chickadaunce winning her match at No. 2 singles, that doubles comeback was all that kept the Patriots alive, so Olivia Effner and the doubles team of Krista Cottom and Hannah Wineinger were both able to come through to pull out the match for North.

"I'm so proud of these kids," Lubold said. "This is not an ideal situation to play a sectional match [indoors], and we had to play yesterday too.

"We had to be patient [against Sullivan], work through long points and work through long games," Lubold continued. "Two doubles had all the pressure, because it all came down to them . . . and Kenley and Maylee stepped up big-time. For them to come together? We needed that to happen.

"But the job's not done."

Sullivan coach Wes Kirk won't have a team in the state finals this year, but he was no less proud of his team.

"We had a very good year," he agreed after the match. "We had two players who went undefeated and we won the conference that was very competitive. We had four new varsity players . . . and the girls made improvement all year."

Terre Haute South 5, West Vigo 0

Singles — Sarah Rowe (THS) def. Ellie Easton 6-1, 6-2; Samhita Shantharam (THS) def. Avery Lasecki 6-3, 6-4; Briley Ireland (THS) def. Allie Lasecki 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles — Savannah Semmler-Ayden Zinkovich (THS) def. Maddie Bradbury-Abigail Meehan 6-0, 6-1; Jordan Miller-Sydney Williams (THS) def. Presley Stewart-Lilly Wrin 6-0, 6-0.

Terre Haute North 3, Sullivan 2

Singles — Hanna Burkhart (S) def. Ye-Won Jung 6-1, 6-0; Paige Chickadaunce (S) def. Caroline Effner 6-1, 6-2; Olivia Effner (THN) def. Sarah Francis 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles — Maylee Brown-Kenley Shoults (THN) def. Ella King-Parker Mischler 6-4, 7-5; Krista Cottom-Hannah Wineinger (THN) def. Lexi Deckard-Maggie McCammon 6-4, 6-1.

Next — Terre Haute South (12-7) and Terre Haute North (7-8) meet at 5 p.m. Friday at South for the championship. West Vigo finished 8-8, Sullivan 16-5.