Harrison repeats as girls tennis IHSAA Sectional champions
WEST LAFAYETTE — Harrison senior No. 1 ranked tennis player Emma Gu kept her forehand calm and smooth against her Benton Central senior opponent Rachel Tolen.
Gu broke Tolen point by point en route to a clinical 6-0 6-0 victory over Tolen to lead Harrison to the IHSAA Sectional Championship 4-1 over the Bison.
A credit Gu said belongs to past captain both boys and girls including her older brother Aaron. Gu will be attending school and playing tennis at the U.S. Naval Academy with her older brother next season.
"I've played one singles all four years which is a lot of pressure," Gu said. "The team always looks at me as somebody who is going to win but as an underclassmen I had a lot of great seniors who had great leadership and amazing captains. I learned a lot of lessons from them to apply to me being an upperclassmen to making sure the team is close and encourage all girls."
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It was a commanding performance by the Raiders with four of five matches lasting less then an hour.
No. 3 singles player Bella Maynard took down Violet Hardebeck while doubles teams of Aubrey and Ella York beat Haley Todd and Avery Hardebeck while Elliot Flannery and Sarah Wang won over Addison Yates and Ellen Wetli.
Benton Central's Kinlyn Yadon was the lone player from her school to advance into regionals sweeping Madison Evans 6-4 6-0.
Yadon utilized an assortment of drop shots and kept switching shot locations for Evans to chase in the second set.
"I think we both got a little tired but thankfully I pushed through and kept being aggressive," Yadon said.
Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@gannett.com, on Twitter at EthanAHansonand Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Harrison repeats as girls tennis IHSAA Sectional champions
