St. David’s tennis one step closer to four in a row after sweeping Trinity Academy of Durham
Freshman Gracie Crowder may be in her first varsity season with the St. David’s School girls tennis team, but she is no stranger to the Warriors’ recent state championship success.
Her mother Jennifer is St. David’s head coach. So for the past three years, Gracie was on hand as a spectator when St. David’s won consecutive NCISAA 2A state titles, so she knew there was a high standard to be met as the Warriors sought a fourth straight championship this season.
“The first match this season, against Cardinal Gibbon, I felt a lot of pressure,” Gracie Crowder said. “But as the season went on, it got a lot easier. It’s been fun.”
Crowder and her teammates had plenty of fun on Thursday, as the Warriors breezed to a 5-0 victory over Trinity School of Durham in a state quarterfinal match at the Raleigh Racquet Club.
The victory advanced top-seeded St. David’s (13-2) on to Barton College in Wilson, where the Warriors seek a semifinal victory at 1 p.m. Friday against No. 4 Gaston Day School (12-1). No. 2 Cape Fear and No. 3 Arendell Parrott Academy also remain in the running. The title game will be held at the same site on Saturday. Last year, St. David’s defeated Cape Fear Academy, 5-0, in the 2A title match.
I remember winning that first one, it was exciting ... Hopefully we can do it again.
St. David’s sophomore No. 1 Beatrice Holding
“Each year, and the girls are every bit as talented, but it’s a different team,” coach Jennifer Crowder said. “The other teams’ desire to beat us intensifies every year, and so we have all the pressure on us.
“We just try to take it one match at a time. We have a tough road to the finals, there are strong teams left. There is pressure, but these girls can handle it.”
The pressure was minimal against eighth-seeded Trinity (15-4) on Thursday.
St. David’s took command from the onset, sweeping all three doubles matches as the No. 1 team of Beatrice Holding and Lindsey Munster, No. 2 team of Alice Holding and Brinkley Thompson and No. 3 team of Crowder and Hannah Mallard all won handily.
A short time later, St. David’s clinched the victory when Munster won at No. 3 singles, topping Trinity’s Katie Biggs, 6-2, 6-0. That followed Crowder’s 6-1, 6-0 victory over Holly Hutcheson at No. 6 singles, and St. David’s held leads in the other four singles matches when play was halted following Munster’s win.
That included Holding, the Eastern Plains Independent Conference Player of the Year who figures to have a significant impact on St. David’s title hopes this weekend. A member of St. David’s varsity since the seventh grade, the sophomore has been a part of all three of the Warriors’ state championships.
“The (weekend) will be tough, we really want to win it a fourth time,” said Holding, St. David’s No. 1 player for a second straight season. “I remember winning that first one, it was exciting...but it was different because it was a (round-robin) format, you had to wait to find out. Hopefully, we can do it again.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 10:29 AM with the headline "St. David’s tennis one step closer to four in a row after sweeping Trinity Academy of Durham."