Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County High School girls and boys tennis teams wrapped up their final weeks of play during the final two weeks of April and first couple of days of May.

The boys competed well but went 0-6 in their matches during the final two weeks and did not finish a match with Ohio County due to rain. The girls split, picking up wins against Muhlenberg County, Hancock County, dropping matches to Owensboro, Grayson County, & Owensboro Catholic, and not finishing two matches due to rain against Ohio County and Muhlenberg County.

With the two teams taking losses to Owensboro in the regular season finale, the girls finished 9-5 in dual matches, while the boys ended 6-13.

With the conclusion of the regular season, the regional tennis tournament heated up. The Lady Bears and Bears took to the courts of Owensboro's Moreland Park May 7th-10th for the 2012 Third Region Tennis Tournament.

The boys were first, with early round being played Monday.  In boys doubles, the team of Conner Reed & Jake Phelps drew the #2 team from Ohio County and after a tough first set loss, but rebounded from a deficit in the 2nd set to make it competitive before falling in the set 6-4. The other boys doubles team of Dakota Merrick and Matthew Embry had a much tougher draw, drawing Owensboro Catholic's #2 team, which was also the #6 seeded team in the tournament. And though they put up all they had, it was not enough, falling 6-0 6-0.  In the singles draws, Brennan Grubb drew an unseeded opponent from Grayson County. Not at his best, Grubb dropped the first set 6-2 and was in the early stages of the second set, when rain suspended play. Grubb returned on Tuesday and played considerably better, before falling 6-4 in the 2nd set. Remmington Harpe likewise drew an unseeded opponent, this time a Hancock County player. Harpe would have a bit more luck than his singles counterpart Brennan. Harpe dismissed his opponent 6-1 6-1, just minutes before the rain delay. Harpe returned for the 2nd day of action, falling to the tournament #5 seed 6-1 6-0.  With only one win in the boys divisions, Butler County finished tied for with three other schools for 7th.

On the girls side of things, their competition began on Tuesday, along with the rain delayed boys matches from the previous day. Butler County had four girls who laid claim to a seed. In girls doubles, Emily Wallace and Sierra Fields were the #8 seed in girls doubles. Among all the seeded girls, all were high schoolers, except for Wallace, an 8th grader at Butler County Middle. In girls singles, Chanda Hampton was the #3 seed and Katona Dockery was the #5. With the Lady Bears capturing three seeds for their four entries, they tied with Grayson County for the second-most number of seeds. Only Daviess County obtained more, getting all four of their entries (two girls singles players and two girls doubles teams) a seed.

In girls doubles, the unseeded team of Laura Hunt/Hannah Barrow unfortunately drew the #7 seeded team, a doubles team from Owensboro Catholic and were dispatched 6-0 6-1. The #8 team of Fields/Wallace made quick work of their first opponents, a doubles team from Muhlenberg County, defeating them 6-0 6-1.  In Day 1 singles action, #3 Chanda Hampton dispatched her Owensboro opponent 6-1 6-1. #5 Katona Dockery also drew an opponent from Owensboro High, and defeated her opposition 6-0 6-0.  Day 2 saw the girls with three quarterfinal matches, two in singles and one in doubles. Any win would send the winning individual/doubles team to state, as all regional semifinalists qualify for the KHSAA state tournament, as of 2011. First to take the court was #5 Katona Dockery, who faced #2 Kendall Moore from Daviess County. Moore, a senior, was a two-time regional finalist, so the match saw Dockery as a heavy underdog. Dockery kept things interesting, pushing most games to deuce, but Moore's age and experience pushed her through to a 6-1 6-2 win over the Butler County sophomore.

Going on court just minutes later was #3 Chanda Hampton, up against #6 Katelin Bingham, a Muhlenberg County senior. This was Bingham's fourth match against a Butler County tennis player this season. Coming into the match she was 0-3 against her three previous Lady Bear opponents. Despite both players showing early nerves, as the first game of the match lasted well beyond 10 minutes, Hampton would see to it that Bingham's luck would not change, dispatching the Lady Mustang 6-1 6-1.  The final quarterfinal match involving the Lady Bears was #8 Fields/Wallace taking on the girls doubles #2 seeded team of Woosley/Manion from Grayson County. The Lady Cougars charged out of the gate on their toes and took advantage of early-match errors by the Lady Bears, taking the first set 6-1. It appeared the 2nd set would be more of the same, as Fields/Wallace were down 1-4. However, a quick racquet change on the changeover after the fifth game of the set seemed to bolster the Lady Bears confidence a little bit, as the duo made the #2 team sweat it out, taking 3 of the final five games of the match, before falling 6-4.

In the meantime, Chanda Hampton returned to the court for her semifinal match against #1 seed Caitlin Burton. The Daviess County senior, also the two-time defending regional girls singles champion and a national two-star recruit according to tennisrecruiting.net was a heavy favorite to say the least. However, while Hampton and Burton were warming up, Burton experienced a bad ankle roll, rendering her unable to move. Her coach and a doctor began immediately to work on the ankle to see if they could get Burton match-ready within 15 minutes of the allowed medical time-out. Ultimately, despite lots of wrapping and Burton's hard-driven desire to at least try to play, Burton was still almost unable to move at the end of the medical time-out. With that said, Burton retired from the match. With the unforeseen win, Hampton would be a surprise regional finalist.  Hampton returned on Thursday for the regional finals, where she took on #2 Kendall Moore. As previously mentioned, Moore was a two-time regional finalist, having lost both times to her teammate, Caitlin Burton, who had pulled out of the tournament the day before, during her semifinal match with Hampton. Moore had also previously beaten Hampton in the semifinals of the OVSS, about a month earlier. The Daviess County senior quickly seized on her chance to finally claim a regional championship, taking the first set from Hampton 6-1. The second set saw her take a quick 2-1 lead before Kendall came back to take a 5-2 lead. From there, Hampton again pushed back, taking two more games and tightening the set to 5-4. With the championship in reach though, Kendall regained control of the match and dismissed the Butler County sophomore with a 6-1 6-4 win.

The girls team finished in third place, behind Daviess County and Grayson County. With Daviess County graduating four of their top six players, & Grayson County graduating three of their starting six, Butler County, with none of its top six girls graduating in 2012, is seen as an early favorite to win the 2013 Third Region Girls Team Championship.

Still, Hampton's season did not conclude with the loss in the Third Region Girls Singles Final. Hampton had punched her ticket to state, just with the semifinal appearance at regionals. At state, Chanda was not a likely candidate to receive a seed and as a result, she could be drawn to face virtually anyone in the draw. Ultimately, she drew the worst-possible first round opponent that anyone could ask for. State #1 seed Madie Cook of Notre Dame Acacdemy (NDA) out of the Ninth Region (the Covington area). Tennisrecruiting.net rated Madie as the #1 prospect out of all of the girls in the state for the class of 2012. The NDA senior was also ranked by the website as a national four star recruit and has signed to play tennis at the University of St Louis, beginning this fall. Cook dismissed Hampton from the state tournament with a 6-0 6-0 win, early Thursday morning (May 17th) at Lexington's Shillito Park Tennis Complex. Cook would go on to win the state tournament with relative ease, defeating #3 Kennedy Womack (Rose Hill Academy) in the finals 6-4 6-4 on Saturday afternoon.