By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Both familiar faces and a newcomer will represent Union City in the District 14A Tennis Tournament championships.
The top-seeded Lady Tornado doubles team of Shelby Bondurant and Molly Kizer will look to repeat last year’s district title feat in a rematch with teammates Dani and Davey Frankum after both UC duos won quarterfinal and semifinal matches Monday.
Freshman Emma Mobbs – the No. 4 seed – will carry the Purple and Gold flag in the singles competition today when she meets up with second seed Ginny Archie of Greenfield in the finals.
Mobbs, who played as the fifth singles seed during the regular season, knocked off tourney No. 1 Taylor Warren (6-2, 6-4) of Obion Central in the second of her two Monday wins.
The championships are slated to begin at 2 p.m. at the UC Middle School courts.
Bondurant and Kizer — 2023 Class 1A state runners-up — cruised into this year’s 14A championship round with impressive Day 1 victories. They surrendered just three games in three sets against two overmatched opponents.
The Frankum twins, the No. 2 seed, easily won their first-round match, then finally put away No. 3 Hannah Taylor and Hannah Strauser of Obion Central 6-4, 6-3.
All five Union City girls will advance to next Monday’s regional individuals at Bethel University, regardless of today’s championship match outcomes.
Bertie Jenkins and Byron Abbott each claimed play-in victories for the Tornadoes in Monday’s postseason opener before dropping quarterfinal matches.
Jenkins, who was the reigning singles champion on the girls’ side after stunning the field as a freshman last year, beat Celeste Perez of Huntingdon 8-3 before falling 8-4 to Archie.
Abbott got the best of Atari Thomas of Westview (8-6) for the UC boys’ lone victory before losing to top-seed Olin Johnson of Obion Central 8-1.
Union City’s boys doubles teams of Grant Sinclair/Kobe Kirk and Bryce White/Lyndon Brown both suffered first-round losses. Foster Rodgers also came up short, beaten by Benjamin Braddock of Westview, 8-2.
Girls
Singles
Bertie Jenkins(UC) vs. Celeste Perez (Huntingdon) 8-3 (Play In)
Jenkins (UC) vs. Ginny Archie (Greenfield) 4-8 First Round
Emma Mobbs (UC) vs. Jazmine Seiber (Huntingdon) 8-2 First Round
Mobbs (UC) vs. Taylor Warren (OC) 6-2, 6-4 Semifinals
Doubles
Shelby Bondurant/Molly Kizer (UC) vs. Holly Williams/Libby Carmen (OC) 8-1 First Round
Bondurant/ Kizer (UC) vs. Caroline Bodkins/Caroline Warrren (Greenfield) 6-1, 6-1 Semifinals
Dani Frankum/Davey Frankum vs. Avery High/Addisen Cooper(Greenfield) 8-2 First Round
Frankum/Frankum (UC) vs. Hannah Taylor/Hannah Strauser (OC) 6-4, 6-3 Semi Finals
Boys
Singles
Byron Abbott (UC) vs. Atari Thomas (Westview) 8-6 (Play In)
Abbott (UC) vs. Olin Johnson (OC) 1-8 First Round
Foster Rodgers (UC) vs. Benjamin Braddock (Westview) 2-8 First Round
Doubles
Bryce White/Lyndon Brown (UC) vs. Carter Coleman/Cole Chafin (Huntingdon) 4-8 First Round
Grant Sinclair/Kobe Kirk (UC) vs. Braden Elam/Sam Cunningham (OC) 5-8 First Round
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
Dresden 7, UC 6 (9 innings)
For the second time in four days, the Tornadoes couldn’t quite slam the door on Dresden, wasting a late 5-1 lead in the District 14A championship round.
UC (18-11) will still advance to the regionals as the runner-up and will play Halls at 4:30 Friday at Dresden in its opener. The Lions will face Bradford in the other game of the double-elimination event, which will conclude on Saturday, with the top two finishers moving on to the sectionals.
The Twisters – behind a strong starting pitching performance from Logan Dawkins – built a four-run cushion in Monday’s fourth meeting of the season with Dresden, which had rallied in dramatic fashion to win a 3-2 classic on Friday.
The Lions scored twice with two outs with the aid of three straight walks in the bottom of the seventh, then mounted the game-winning rally in their last at-bat after a hit batsman and a three-base error with two outs.
Union City outhit Dresden 14-5, with Troy Joslin going 3-for-4 and reaching base five times. Kyler Southerland, Luke Joslin, and Tucker Davis each had two singles, and Skyler Hall drove in a pair of runs for the Tornadoes.
Will Ragsdale scored twice and had an RBI, as did Barrett Cox and Luke Joslin.
The Twisters led the entire game until the bottom of the seventh after scoring two runs in the first. UC stranded 13 runners, including the bases loaded in the top of the ninth after Luke Joslin raced home on a wild pitch to briefly snap a 5-all deadlock.
Ross Finney, whose two-run single in the seventh forced extra innings, had the game-winning base hit for the Lions to cap a three-RBI day.
Dawkins was plenty good on the hill, giving up just three hits in six innings while fanning five. Ragsdale was saddled with the loss in relief, though both the tying and winning runs charged against him were unearned.
UC did have several players earn accolades in postgame ceremonies.
Cox, who won eight of nine decisions and had an ERA of 1.00, was named the league’s Pitcher of the Year. Southerland, Ragsdale, Hall, and Troy Joslin earned All-District honors for their regular season play, while Cox, Ragsdale, and Troy Joslin were chosen to the All-Tournament team.
Ragsdale and Reese Paschall earned places on the All-Academic team as seniors with grade point averages of 3.0 or better.