By Jim Seay

This past Monday afternoon at Trenholm Park, the Cardinal Newman’s girl’s tennis team defeated Hammond School for the SC Independent Schools Association Class AAA State Championship. While it was the first SCISA championship for the program, the 1983 team won the Palmetto Athletic Conference crown.

The Lady Cardinals completed the season at 15–1. Their only loss was to SC High School League Class AAAA power Spring Valley.

For CN Head Coach and former USC tennis player Collette Andrews, the victory was even sweeter after losing to Porter–Gaud in the semi–finals in the past two seasons.

Hammond, finishing at 14–4, was hampered without the help of Brittany Gore, their number four player. She was injured late in the regular season.

The climax to the campaign came after Colby Kucharski, Callie Kucharski, and Tori August won their singles battles. Hammond, with wins by Madison Kocher, Carolina Stuckey, and Helena Jedziniak, forced the match to three–all. So, needing five points to take the top award, the action moved to the next phase.

Coach Andrews recalled, “That meant we would have to have take two of the doubles to win. We knew Hammond was strong at doubles and beating them two out of three wouldn’t be easy. It came down to the number three doubles. Our two youngest players clinched the win.”

Colby Kucharski and Samantha August won the first, but the No. 2 doubles clash was taken by the Hammond duo of Kocher and Beth Cotter. That put the pressure on freshman Callie Kucharski and eighth grader Tori August. Playing like veterans, they took the measure of Jedziniak and Lightsey Lafitte 8–4 and, with that, the title.

“Every time we play Hammond, it goes down the wire. This was a really good way to end the season,” said Andrews.

Other key Cardinals this year have been Tess Monahan, Erika Houghtaling, Evan Black, and Allison Dobbs.

This was a second state championship for a Lady Cardinals’ team this fall. The first came in early October when the swimmers took first place. One of the members of that squad is Casey Andrews, who claimed the 2004 individual cross country state championship in mid–October, her third state running title in the past four campaigns.

That’s another reason for celebrating in the Andrews’ home. Casey’s mom is Collette Andrews.