Mathews High School’s Morgan Johnson became the Region 1A East Singles Champion and earned Region 1A East Player of the Year honors.
The Region 1A East Singles Tournament was played last Thursday at the Franklin YMCA indoor tennis courts due to rain. In the quarterfinals, Johnson defeated Angela Head of Northampton in a four-hour, nine-minute match, hitting over 2,600 balls in just two sets. For one point that was played, the ball was hit 101 times. It was a battle of who could keep the ball in the court the longest. Johnson won the marathon match, 6-3, 6-2.
After an hour break, Johnson was back on the court playing the number-one seed, hard-hitting Lori Gagnon of Rappahannock. Gagnon quickly won the first set, 6-2. However, Johnson got her second wind and pulled off the second set, 6-4. After splitting sets, Johnson’s determination to win and hitting great shots pulled her through the match to upset the number-one seed, winning the third set 7-5. This match was a little over three hours. That same day, Johnson played the finals and defeated Brianna Kamilovich of Franklin, 6-2, 6-1, to earn the regional title after being on the court for over eight and a half hours. Johnson is coach LaDonna Crain’s first regional singles champion.
In the Region 1A East Doubles Tournament, Johnson and Ashley Hudgins also played indoors at the Franklin YMCA due to rain. In the quarterfinals, Johnson and Hudgins cruised through their first match, defeating Brittany Harmon and Lexie St. John of Essex, winning 6-0, 6-0. In the semifinals they played well to earn the win over Haley Potts and Angela Head of Northamption, 6-2, 6-4. In the finals, Johnson and Hudgins, the number-one seed, suffered an upset to Rappahannock’s Gagnon and Taylor Yeatman, losing 6-2, 7-6 (11-9). Johnson and Hudgins were down, 5-2, in the second set. The Mathews girls fought hard to come back and pulled ahead, 6-5, winning four straight games. However, the Lady Blue Devils doubles duo could not pull off the win against the strong Gagnon and Yeatman. However, being runners-up earned the Mathews doubles team a trip to Radford to compete in the VHSL State Doubles Semifinals.
Mathews is in the semifinals of VHSL State Singles, Doubles and Team Tournaments. Crain earned Region 1A East Coach of the Year honors. In the 11 years that Crain has been coaching, this is the first time the Lady Devils have been in all three tournaments.
Johnson will go to Radford University to play Rebekah Storms of George Wythe in the state singles semifinals at 9 a.m. Thursday. Johnson and Hudgins will play Samantha Brooks and Lauren Landerth of Radford High School in the state doubles semifinals at Radford University at 9 a.m. Friday. The team was scheduled to play Auburn at Gloucester High School on Tuesday morning.