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Tiger Cubs battle but fall to Braves at tennis regional
TERRE HAUTE — Successful coaches don’t tend to be into moral victories. On the other hand, the good ones also hold their heads high when they know the players left everything on the court, even in defeat.
So it was with Greencastle tennis coach Annette Munoz-Thede Tuesday evening. The coach had no complaints with her team following a hard-fought 4-1 loss to Terre Haute South in IHSAA regional action at Terre Haute North High School.
“We had almost a three-hour night, and in the last half hour, if we had pulled out some of those final sets, it could’ve gone the other way,” Munoz-Thede said. “There was no clear-cut win until 2-1/2 hours in. And even after that, every position played to the end.”
The end came shortly before 8 p.m. with the Braves’ Sarah Rowe a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 winner over the Tiger Cubs’ Allie Landry at No. 1 singles, bringing not only the team’s season to a close, but also Landry’s as well as the No. 1 doubles team of Bella Monnett and Sophie Riggle, both of which could have advanced had they remained undefeated in tournament play.
No. 2 singles player Maddie Landry was the lone winner, but even she had to fight back for a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over the Braves’ Jordan Miller. Landry closed her senior season with a 24-1 individual record.
Monnett and Riggle took a tough loss at No. 1 doubles, as Jessica Kallubhavi and Savannah Semmler topped them 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) following a second-set tiebreaker that had potential to even up the match.
The two remaining matches looked more one-sided on paper, as Addie Fowler fell to Aja Irish 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 singles, while Liberty Amis and Lauren Dibble took a 6-1, 6-1 defeat at No. 2 doubles. However, the coach was pleased with the grit her team showed against a school with more than three times the enrollment of Greencastle.
While the outcome wasn’t indicative of a 20-4 season, the determination and teamwork were.
“It took us four different lineups to find the right fit, and once we found the right fit, we could tell the girls clicked,” Munoz-Thede said. “They felt confident in their positions, and they loved seeing each other grow as players. They worked each other at practice. And they became a team. It means a lot that even though it’s an individual position sport, the second they come off, they’re checking on each other. They want to know how the others are doing, and they fight hard on the court for each other.”
At no point was this clearer than when the older Landry came off the court a winner in an impressive comeback after a one-sided first set and instead shed tears over the end of the season and settled in to watch younger sister – struggling with leg cramps since the second set – close out her own sophomore season.
“Maddie started at two singles freshman year then one singles as a sophomore and then back to two for her junior and senior year and has had winning records each year, even at No. 1 as a sophomore,” Munoz-Thede said. “And this year, she ended up 24-1, the best record for the whole team.
“I will say she is the scrappiest player out there,” the coach added. “There are times when she plays so clean, and there’s time that she’s hitting shots that I don’t know how she gets there. Even losing a set here and there, she’s found a way to finish. It’s been a joy to see her play for this group.”
Munoz took time to highlight her other three seniors, noting that Amis has been a varsity player for three years, but hit her stride as a “stellar doubles player” this season.
“Liberty just came alive this year – her net play, her putaways, her clan volleys at the net. Her ability in the backcourt has just been impressive,” Munoz-Thede said. “She stepped into the role of not being with another senior. She was with a first-time varsity player, Lauren Dibble, and became the leader of that team. She’s quiet, but she’s the perfect teammate for her doubles partner.”
Monnett and Riggle made for a fiery duo at No. 1 doubles.
“Bella and Sophie were a joy to see. They don’t like to lose — nobody likes to lose,” Munoz-Thede said. “You could see they have such maturity in how they play. They become just more controlled in their shots and smarter on how they play. They’ve had a couple of really close matches that they had to really push through and find the right strokes. They communicated better each and every match.”
While not spending the entire season as partners, the two seniors were formidable once they found each other, going 14-3 as a duo.
“No. 1 doubles is often a position where some teams put their best players. They know they can put their best players at No. 1 doubles and they can advance further,” Munoz-Thede said. “There were a couple of times we played against those girls, and our girls won those matches. They made tonight a battle. It could have been either way at the end, and about went into the third set.”
On-court contributions aside, Munoz-Thede believes her four seniors — winners of four straight sectional titles — also set the tone with the intangibles.
“The leadership for the team has been so positive,” the coach said. “Their communication with the team, all the way through with the JV every night – really all four seniors have been the best example we could’ve had going further. I think we’re just going to continue to build this program.”
Munoz-Thede should return Fowler and Dibble for their senior seasons in 2025 and Allie Landry for her junior season. Additionally, GHS fielded a large JV team that lost just one match on the year.
At Terre Haute North
IHSAA Girls’ Tennis Regional
Terre Haute South 4, Greencastle 1
Singles: Rowe (THS) def. A. Landry (G) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; M. Landry (G) def. Miller (THS) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2; Irish (THS) def. Fowler (G) 6-2, 6-1.
Doubles: Kallubhavi/Semmler (THS) def. Monnett/Riggle (G) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); Gira/Luken (THS) def. Amis/Dibble (G) 6-1, 6-1.