By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Twins Dani and Davey Frankum have developed a never-say-die reputation during their two seasons with the Union City tennis program.
That determination and perseverance continued to serve them and their Lady Tornado teammates well Thursday.
The sisters fought back from a 4-1 deficit to beat Chester County’s Emma Grace Miller and Brocke Ketchum 8-5 to help UC clinch a Class A State Tournament berth with a 4-2 victory at the Middle School Courts.
Union City’s girls’ program, winners of six straight matches and 13-7 on the season, will compete in the state tourney for the 10th time in program history on Tuesday at 1 p.m. in Murfreesboro against University School of Johnson City or Kingston in one of two semifinal matches. Reigning champion Summertown – which beat UC in last year’s finals – will face either Watertown or Signal Mountain in the other semi, with the championship match slated for Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the Adams Tennis Complex.
The Lady Tornadoes stormed to a 3-0 lead in Thursday’s sectional before CC forced a pair of doubles matches to decide the winner.
The second-seeded Frankum siblings, as they’ve done on a handful of occasions, fell behind early before using the same will and dogged determination to storm from behind and set off a wild celebration from their teammates and a big crowd of UC supporters.
“As usual, they didn’t give up,” a smiling Tornado head coach Tom Sisco said after witnessing the Frankum rally. “There’s absolutely no quit in them. All they do is gut out every point – whether they are playing singles or together.
“You get double-determination when they’re playing doubles.”
UC’s top-seeded doubles tandem of Shelby Bondurant and Molly Kizer were well on their way to clinching the match if the Frankum sisters hadn’t – up 6-2 against the Lady Eagle duo of Grace Compton and Ceili Davis when their match was called.
Bondurant and Kizer – both of whom won at the No. 1 and 2 singles spots – dropped their first game in doubles before hitting their stride with near-flawless play that led to five straight games won. During that period, the twosome won eight consecutive points and dominated with their respective serves.
“What I believe you’re seeing with Shelby and Molly is them hitting their stride right now,” Sisco continued. “Their timing is getting better and better, and they’re communicating well. They’ve adjusted their net play, and they’re really playing with a lot of confidence.”
UC fell behind early in every one of their five singles matches, but, as their coach suspected they would, Bondurant and Kizer each won hard-fought encounters with Compton and Miller.
Bondurant was down 2-0 before winning three of the next four games in her first set. She broke a 5-all deadlock and claimed the opener 7-5 before getting off to a great second-set start by taking five of the first six games with several powerful groundstrokes.
Kizer was down 2-1 early but rallied to win 7-5, then dominated in the second set with a 6-2 triumph.
“I felt really confident coming in that we’d get wins at the one- and two-seeds – just because of how well Shelby and Molly are playing right now,” Sisco added. “Right now, with how they’re playing, I’d put them up against anybody in Class A.
“I thought we were a little tentative early in all the singles matches, but that certainly didn’t last. We immediately began to have better shot-making, and our confidence started to rise.”
The Lady Tornadoes got a third win in singles play when Davey Frankum fell behind 2-0 and 4-3 before winning six of the next seven games on her way to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Davis.
UC fell at the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds, but not without a fight.
Dani Frankum lost a second-set tiebreaker 8-6 after winning four straight games to erase a 4-1 deficit in her match against Katie Lovelace. Lovelace took the first set 6-2.
Freshman Bertie Jenkins also had a spirited rally in her match to force a tiebreaker (7-2) in what was eventually a 4-6, 6-7 setback.
In addition to next week’s state team event, Bondurant and Kizer will play in the individual doubles championship on Thursday. They’ll be joined by the boys’ tandem of Charleton Wisener and Gavin Pledge, who’ll also play Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Adams Complex.