STARKVILLE — By any reasonable amount of logic, Kate Covillion was not the person you wanted on the court with the match on the line.
Unless, perhaps, she was not aware of it.
So, with the match tied at 4-4 against archrival Heritage Academy, Starkville Academy’s hopes rested on a seventh-grader who began playing tennis only two years ago, playing a varsity match for only the third time.
Long after most of the other matches were done, and almost a half-hour after Jackson Walters and Joe Barret evened the match at 4-4 by winning a third-set tiebreaker at No. 2 boys doubles, Covillion watched as a backhand from Mallory Ward sailed long to complete a 5-7, 6-1, (11-9) victory at No. 2 girls singles and give the Vols a dramatic 5-4 win over the Patriots in an MAIS Class 5A, District 1 match.
The crowd that had gathered at the start of the match had long since dispersed by the time that match was over, and Covillion played the tiebreaker unaware that her teammates had evened the match.
“Not until the end did they tell me that was the winning point,” Covillion said. “I was just making sure that I could get it over.”
Both players were cautious throughout the tiebreaker. Covillion took a 3-1 lead with a strong volley at the net, but Ward responded with five consecutive points, two on long rallies as each player waited for the other to make a mistake. An ace gave Ward a 6-3 edge. But the next three went to Covillion, and the match was 6-6 on the second changeover.
The pair traded points through the next changeover, but Covillion gave Ward a tough serve that was returned into the net before the winning point.
Not a bad result for someone who, if things went according to plan, would have been cheering from the sidelines.
“I was supposed to be on B team, but somebody got hurt on A team,” Covillion said.
Otherwise, the Patriots dominated the singles matches, dropping just four games in the process. Senior Elizabeth Nichols was outstanding, rolling to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Sarah Montgomery at No. 1 girls.
It was a far cry from her opening district match.
“Last match I played was my first district match against Pillow,” she said. “The first set was a tiebreaker that I won, then I lost the second set, then the third set I won a tiebreaker again.”
She was off the court much more quickly on Tuesday, and she said a lot had to do with her serve.
“Whenever I get my first serve in, I start winning games,” Nichols said. “If I don’t get my first serve in, sometimes I struggle with winning my service games. I did get them in today.”
At 6-feet, 1-inch, Nichols towers over many of her teammates, and she said her height is an advantage on the court.
“It helps a lot with my serve, it really does, because I have a better angle,” she said. “Also, whenever I rush the net it’s hard to lob over me.”
The No. 2 boys singles also saw a 6-0, 6-0 result, but under different circumstances. Another Starkville Academy seventh-grader, Barron Delivorias, was called up to face Heritage’s Garrett Vaughn. But unlike Covillion, Delivorias was at a considerable size advantage.
Delivorias played about as well as anyone who couldn’t win a game could play, but Vaughn simply had an answer for everything and cruised to a win.
It wasn’t quite that easy for Heritage No. 1 boys singles player Joshua Tedford, but he had a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 win over Tyler Highfield.
“I got my return game going, that’s really about it,” Tedford said of the difference between the two sets. “I’ve been playing all right.”
The junior has posted a 4-1 record overall and a 2-0 record in district matches.
The fourth Heritage point was another blowout, with Brandon Oswalt and Drew Glenn posting a 6-0, 6-0 victory over John Ross Jackson and Phillip Delivorias at No. 1 boys doubles. But while the top of Heritage’s lineup got the better of Starkville Academy, the Volunteers won with depth, taking every other doubles match.
A little motivation might have helped. Starkville Academy coach Robin Holliday’s husband and fellow coach, Harry, told Morgan Peaster he would do a cartwheel if she and Michela Castiglione won at No. 2 girls doubles. They, at least, kept their half of the bargain with a 5-7, 6-4, (10-5) victory over Reese Ketchen and Swayze Calloway, a win which gave the Vols a sweep of the matches that went three sets.
Grace Delp and Lizzie Skelton gave the Vols the point at No. 1 girls doubles with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Ellie Dawson and Kendall Moody. At mixed doubles, Starkville Academy siblings Harrison and Lily Holliday dispatched Cade Perkins and Kaylee West 6-0, 6-1.
The experienced Volunteers girls team won the MAIS Class 4A title last year and with four seniors can be expected to contend this year in Class 5A. But Heritage also has designs on postseason success.
“They can go all the way if they want to,” Tedford said of his teammates. “They just have to practice. They’re young.”
Nichols is optimistic about the chances for her and her team.
“My ninth-grade year I won a state title in No. 2 singles,” she said. “My second year, sophomore year, it was COVID. Then I played doubles my junior year and we made it to North state but didn’t get further.”
And she sees contenders around her as well.
“I’m looking at our number one doubles, and they’re looking very good this year,” she said of Delp and Skelton. “And our number two singles, Mallory, I absolutely love her. She’s getting more consistent.”
The Class 5A district tournaments will be held the week of April 11, with District 1 in Cleveland. The Class 5A regional tournaments follow a week later, with the class tournaments April 28.
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