2 weeks Ago By SCOTT CHANCEY Sports Editor
LAKE CITY , S.C. -- Carolina Academy girls' tennis coach Cameron Sebnick said her Bobcats will be remembered for more than winning the program's first SCISA Class 2A/A state championship since 2013.
The Carolina Academy's tennis team celebrates its first state championship since 2013. Pictured, from left: Allie Keith Coker, Blythe Smith, Harper Drew Richardson, Caroline Cobb, coach Cameron Sebnick, Carlie Anne Smith, Savannah Mccutcheon and Kaylie Lyerly. "This has been by far my favorite season," said Sebnick, whose team won 5-1 over Lowcountry Prep in Tuesday's championship match.
"They're just a fantastic group of girls. They carry good vibes around them, and they have a good work ethic. It was just a memorable team.
When I'm old and gray and people talk to me about my coaching years, I'm going to say this will be the team I remember." Of course, a team must have more than good vibes and camaraderie to win a state championship. This was a talented and deep team that won 12 of its 14 matches.
Their only defeats were at the hands of Pee Dee Academy, which reached the 3A semifinals. Bobcat No. 1 seed Carlie Anne Smith won 6-4, 7-5 on Tuesday against Lowcountry Prep, and No.
2 Allie Keith Coker (CA's lone senior) won 6-2, 4-6, 10-6. Smith, a junior, shows more qualities on the court than skill. "She's just got the energy and the drive and the grit," Sebnick said.
"She's all over the court, but her teammates also look up to her. She's a co-captain (the other is No. 3 Blythe Smith) and a solid No.
1 seed to have." Coker's three-set win illustrated her composure. "She's our calm in the chaos," Sebnick said.
"She's like a backboard; she gets everything back. And she'll hit it to the angle on the opposite side and to the other side until she wears an opponent down." The Bobcats' depth was enhanced this season after three players joined to play Nos.
5-7 singles: Eighth-grader Kaylie Lyerly, and seventh-graders Harper Drew Richardson and Caroline Cobb. On Tuesday, after Carolina Academy built a 4-1 lead, No. 4 seed Savannah Mccutcheon was preparing for a third-set tiebreaker.
"She lost the first set; she was kind of all over on placement. But then something clicked with her in that second set," Sebnick said. After Mccutcheon lost 6-4 in that first set, she won the second by the same score.
Then, Sebnick had a quick talk with Mccutcheon before that third set. "Savannah had gotten into the other girl's head," Sebnick said. "I said to Savannah as she was drinking water, 'If you win this tiebreaker, we win.
' And she looked up and she said, 'I've got it.'" Mccutcheon won 10-6 in that third set, and the state championship belonged to Carolina Academy. Smith won 7-6, 6-1 in her Tuesday match at No.
3 singles; Lyerly won 7-5, 6-2, and Richardson won 6-3, 6-3. Sebnick said the credit for this state championship goes to the players. "I'm just the glorified bus driver," Sebnick said with a laugh.
She played two years of varsity tennis for her alma mater, South Florence, before joining the Bruins' cheerleading squad. When Sebnick was younger, she traveled the country for tennis tournaments and was ranked among the state's top 10 in the 10U division. In doubles, Sebnick and Jean Marie Blackmon were in the top five.
Sebnick used her experience to calm players’ nerves before Tuesday's match. "The match was supposed to be Wednesday, and they moved it to Tuesday. That was a good thing because the players didn't have much time to think about it," said Sebnick, in her third year as Carolina Academy's coach.
She coached at East Clarendon before that. "A couple of times, I went to the fence and reminded them this is like any other match we have played this season, and they came through." schancey@florencenews.
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