Covenant girls tennis knew it had its work cut out for it Tuesday in the VISAA Division II state quarterfinals. The No. 4-seeded Eagles had just beaten No. 5 Virginia Episcopal a week earlier to take home the Blue Ridge Athletic Conference championship.
Covenant was apparently up for repeating the task.
The Eagles edged VES 5-4 behind a pair of Herculean efforts from Cailyn Livelli and Natalie McDonald at No. 6 and No. 5 singles. They’ll head to Virginia Beach to take on No. 1 seed Cape Henry in the state semifinals.
McDonald saved match point at No. 5 singles and then won 9-8 to seal the victory. Livelli won 8-4 at No. 6 singles.
The Eagles had to dig out of a hole with VES’ excellent duo at the top of the ladder, Blair Gill and Hannah Saye, giving the Bishops a 3-0 advantage with the pair notching an 8-0 win in doubles and then following it with Gill winning 8-0 over Covenant’s Amy Rigg and Saye winning 8-1 over Lucy Hunter at No. 2 singles.
The Eagles won at both No. 2 (Livelli and Eliza Pouncey) and No. 3 doubles (Abadir and Becky Stelow) to take a 2-1 lead into singles, but Julia Abadir had to get going with an 8-0 victory at No. 3 singles which made it 3-3 after the VES wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles. That opened the door for Livelli and McDonald to pull off the big-time efforts and clinch a spot in the state final four.
Covenant faces Cape Henry in the semifinals.
