KNOXVILLE — There are still goals that Culee Smith has left to accomplish before her senior season of tennis at Davis County comes to a close.
Smith achieved one of those goals on Monday. In her fourth and final South Central Conference girls tennis tournament, the Mustang senior achieved the honor of being the conference's top singles player dropping just 10 games in six sets clinching her first SCC championship with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Knoxville junior Addy Dunkin at the Joel Tonda Tennis Complex.
"It's always a goal, but it's never easy to get there," Smith said after finally claiming a conference tennis title. "I was hoping for that, but it's pretty exciting to get there. I was confident to an extent, but it's never a guarantee. I was just hoping that I played well. I think I did. I was pretty happy with it and I feel better than going into regionals."
Smith's run to the championship secured a fourth-place finish for Davis County with 44 points. Knoxville, playing on their home court, claimed the team championship sparked by Dunkin's run to the conference singles final and an SCC doubles championship win by the team of Bridgett Liston and Jordyn Courts.
The Panthers finished with 98 points, 27 ahead of Clarke with a runner-up finish by Mylee Miller and Emily Glenn in the conference doubles tournament. Albia finished third with 59 points, highlighted by a battle for third place in singles play between Lady Dee teammates Ryleigh Birchmier and Ayla Green with Birchmier coming out on top 4-0 and 4-2.
"It was a good match to have after a long second match," Birchmier said. "It was kind of like practice. It makes it a little bit easier to face someone you're familiar with. If you're playing someone else, it becomes a pretty big deal. No matter who came out on top, Albia was going to take the win."
Green, meanwhile, joined Birchmier among the top four players in the SCC singles tournament securing an impressive 6-0, 6-1 win over Knoxville junior Brylee Woolsey in the quarterfinals. The Albia senior has already won more matches in singles play this fall than in the previous two seasons.
"I've noticed a big difference in between moving up from playing as the No. 3 singles player to the No. 2 player," Green said. "Even from the beginning of the year, I've noticed a difference. I played Clarke and I didn't do very good. Once we went over to Clarke later in the season, I battled back and won. I definitely feel like I've seen improvements in myself."
Centerville finished fifth in the SCC girls tennis tournament with 25 points. Ava Allen and Kelsey Taylor finished fourth in doubles, winning 6-2 and 6-0 over Chariton teammates Jazlynn Wesley and Paisly Larrington in the quarterfinals.
"We got fifth place in the last conference tournament. We were hoping to do better than that this time," Allen said. "I'm happy we did better. We honestly played a lot better."
