South Aiken girls’ tennis team’s season ends in second round of Class AAAA playoffs

Oct. 31—BISHOP ENGLAND 5, SOUTH AIKEN 1

AIKEN — The South Aiken girls’ tennis team knew it was going to have its hands full in the second round of the Class AAAA playoffs.

Bishop England was coming to the Weeks Tennis Center as defending state champions, claiming the Class AAAA title last year in its first attempt after moving up from Class AA, and the T-Breds knew the Battling Bishops were a much better team than their 9-8 record would indicate.

To win, South Aiken was going to have to pull out all the stops. The T-Breds did their research, studied their opponent and came up with a game plan, and it was clear for much of Thursday’s match that the Bishops were frustrated that points — and matches — were dragging on much longer than they were used to while breezing past overmatched opponents.

Still, Bishop England fought through that to shake off errors and continuously make the shots and score the points necessary in nearly every key moment. That amounted to a 5-1 victory that ended South Aiken’s season while extending Bishop England’s into round three.

“Of course, we knew going into this that it was going to be a tough matchup,” said South Aiken head coach Dee Dee Redd. “Bishop England always has strong tennis teams, boys’ and girls’, but I can say that we were competitive throughout. A lot of our girls were up, then down, back and forth. Some girls were down 4-1 and came back and matched them and then lost a set. … So I think a lot of our lines could’ve gone either way. They just didn’t go our way today.”

The lone win for South Aiken came at No. 1 singles, with Anrei Delariarte picking up the victory after her opponent retired. The two battled back-and-forth into a tiebreak in the first set and were still early in a competitive second set with every other match already over — and with Bishop England facing a long drive home and a third-round match the next day, thanks to a gloomy forecast forcing the Bishops’ visit to Aiken to be postponed twice.

Redd also praised seniors Sophia Rainchuso and Jena Quinn for battling throughout their matches at No. 2 and No. 4 singles, respectively, in addition to the rest of her players for making Bishop England earn every win.

“I talked to every one of my girls, and I never put pressure on my girls, but I said, ‘Just fight as hard as you can to get any wins possible,'” Redd said. “Balls that maybe don’t come back normally to the Bishop England girls, my girls were getting them. They were sending them right back and playing long points. We had some marathon matches going on, so I think that’s a good sign of great tennis. It wasn’t one-sided at all.”

The season ends for South Aiken with a record of 13-5, with a second-place finish behind Gray Collegiate in the Region 4-AAAA standings. The T-Breds finished the regular season celebrating a class of six seniors, who on Thursday played their final match for South Aiken.

“I took over from Jeni Myers, who had already established an amazing girls’ tennis program, so I want to say it was really an easy job for me to pick up because she had it so well done,” Redd said. “We have said repeatedly that we’re not a tennis team; we’re a tennis family. My girls are very close-knit. They work together. They like each other. They go out together.

“We are losing six seniors, which of course is going to hurt, and the next year or two are going to be building years, but I think when you already have that family mentality, it’s already established, you just keep growing it in that same fashion. My four girls that are coming back next year are ready to perform at their very peak, and we’re hoping to gain some extra girls along the way.”

After the match ended, the team gathered for group photos, their post-match song and the traditional awarding of the program’s spirit racket, which senior captain Kinsee Smith presented to Redd.

“This is a tradition that’s long-standing. It’s got to be 10 to 15 years long,” Redd said. “There’s names from girls on our spirit racket from long before I was coaching. We’ve got some older siblings on here that the girls like to see. My team captain, as she was awarding it, said that this person has improved this year and has helped us, and it was just such an honor to think that I’ve improved in any way possible. I don’t know if she meant as a player, as a coach, a person, but I’m happy to take that. It’s really an honor, because I know it’s very heartfelt and I know that they mean it.”