Chloe Sanderson closed out her high school tennis career last Thursday, finishing as runner-up in the Class 1 VHSL state singles tournament at Virginia Tech.

In the morning, Sanderson had little trouble beating Jessica Milo of Riverheads, the Region B champion by scores of 6-3, 6-1.

With that win, Sanderson advanced to the noon championship match against Auburn’s Taylor Reed. Reed, the Region C champion, had previously crushed Kira Sturgill of John I. Burton by scores of 6-2, 6-1 to earn her spot in the state championship match.

The highlight of the day’s action was the first set between Sanderson and Reed. In a grueling contest, Sanderson was trailing 5-2 before coming back to tie the set at five games apiece.

“Every point was [about] 50 shots” back and forth, said MHS head tennis coach LaDonna Crain. “Mentally, it was just draining.” Crain and assistant coach Mark Brown kept coaching Sanderson through, one point at a time.

Crain said she knew ...