Barnes, Crawford endure three-hour match at District 4 Class AA singles tournament
Trending
At the District 4 Class AA singles tournament on Saturday, Montgomery junior and first-year tennis player Cali Barnes kicked off her run with a clean sweep and appeared to be well on her way to an impressive, straight-set win over a seeded opponent.
With a set victory already under her belt, Barnes took a 3-2 lead over Loyalsock's Caroline Crawford - the bracket's No. 7 seed. Needing just three more wins to clinch the match and punch her ticket to the quarterfinals, there was a chance the match would be over in a matter of minutes.
Cut to an hour later and over two and a half hours after the start of the match, and Crawford had just evened the third set at 4-4, overcoming another set deficit of 3-0 and 4-1 to put herself right back in position to steal the match. In a bout with a plethora of twists and turns, nobody could predict who was going to end up taking it.
"I didn't know what was gonna happen at the end," said Barnes. "It was a really hard match against Caroline, but it was fun."
Barnes would go down 40-15 in the ensuing set before battling back to a deuce point, shaking off Crawford's advantage and ultimately, forcing Crawford to make multiple mistakes to take back the set lead. Then, she dominated the next game, with three over-shots from Crawford sealing the deal and granting her the 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win.
In just her first stint at the event, the Red Raider proved she could compete with some of the best girls tennis talent the area has to offer, ultimately concluding her run in the quarterfinals but still taking two games off Jersey Shore's Peyton Dincher, a three-time district finalist and one-time champion.
"It was really exciting, and I had all my friends stay and watch so that was nice," said Barnes, who expects to run it back as a senior. "It's my first year playing tennis so I just wanted to go out and have fun. I was just trying to keep the ball in and not take hard shots."
Though she ultimately fell in the match, Crawford still proved what she was capable of with her back against the wall. Just when it seemed like Barnes would make a push for a straight set win, the sophomore quickly evened the match, taking a 4-3, second-set lead with back-to-back wins.
When Barnes responded by taking the next game to tie it back up, Crawford upped the intensity and mitigated some of the mistakes that had defined her first set. She was able to get multiple shots past Barnes on her way to her eventual second-set victory, closing out the set with a fiery forehand shot to the back right corner that got returned into the net.
"I told myself that all the practice, all the matches, all of it in the end is worth it and you should just try your best, be an honest player and be a good sport," said Crawford when discussing her mentality throughout the match. "Try hard and don't just expect to lose because you never know what could happen."
With momentum on her side entering the third, she'd stumble, dropping the first three games of the set and eventually accumulating a 4-1 deficit to fall into her deepest hole of the tournament. But strong forehands, good placement and composure on rallies put her right back in contention, as she took three games in a row to tie it back up.
From the outside looking in, the effort may have proven to be in vain, but Crawford doesn't see it that way. As a sophomore, she already has a district doubles title on her resume and expects to continue developing as a singles player.
"I tried my best and it doesn't always work out how you want, but there's always time to improve," said Crawford. "I'm honestly not really frustrated at myself. I wanted to win but it's okay if I don't because I still have doubles districts. I feel like next year is going to be a good year."
There's almost always at least one second-round bout that goes the distance like this one did, with the final tally of games in this case coming out to 29, eight more than the next longest on the day. Through a match that spanned three hours, fans of Montgomery, Loyalsock and the other schools in attendance were treated to an exciting - albeit stressful - show.