Kathryn Wilson takes singles title, Jasper duo captures doubles in thrilling matches

INDIANAPOLIS -- The point that Kathryn Wilson won a singles state championship required her only to hit a serve. A grueling, high-level tennis match on Saturday was finally nearing an end. Wilson, of Columbus North, smashed a serve near the left corner of a service box. South Bend St. Joseph’s Molly Bellia stretched to her right, flicking a backhand over the net. 

But the ball carried past Wilson and out. She pumped her right fist as she dropped into a squat. The crowd roared behind her. On a warm June day, Wilson captured a state title. 

After the awards ceremony, Wilson had enough energy to trot through a human tunnel, people raising their arms in the air to create a pathway.

“I wasn’t really that tired,” Wilson said after the match. “My feet just hurt really bad.”

The matchup had the makings of a classic. Bellia already had a singles state title under her belt as she won it in 2021. Entering Saturday’s championship match, Wilson and Bellia were both undefeated this season. Bellia at 21-0. Wilson 29-0.

Wilson cruised through the first set, winning the first four games and ultimately taking it, 6-2. Bellia, though, showed resilience. The second set was knotted in at 4-4 before Bellia won two games in a row to take the second set.

“We got away from us being the aggressor,” Columbus North coach Kendal Hammel said. “Molly just starting whipping groundstrokes and (Wilson) was on her heels.”

Momentum seemed to be decisively in Bellia’s favor after she came out and won the first two games of the third set. A match that was comfortably in Wilson’s hands now seemed to be slipping away. But Wilson did not give in. 

“I think I’ve always just told myself to never give up no matter what,” Wilson said. “And I live by that. No matter what I will not give up. And I didn’t and kept fighting. And here we are.”

There is a deeper context to this, from previously in her tennis career. Earlier in her high school career, Wilson struggled with self-belief and confidence.

“I had like a little time period when I was really struggling with, like, being positive and wanting to keep playing,” Wilson said. “I was kinda in a drop and I didn’t really believe in myself. But I just kept fighting and kept going."

How did she get through that?

“Just kept working,” Wilson said. “Kept going every day. Never gave up and just worked as hard as I could.”

She didn’t give up then. Nor did she Saturday. Down 2-0 in the third set, Wilson won five games in a row. Even then, Bellia showed fight, winning two in a row and slicing Wilson’s lead to just 5-4. But ultimately, Wilson closed it out, winning 6-4. The final: 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 for a Wilson win.

The outcome can be attributed in part to Wilson’s preparation. Recently, she did two-a-day workouts — around 90 minutes in the morning and around 90 minutes in the afternoon, which simulated a tournament schedule. This week, she also hit with her sister, Ashlie, who plays tennis for Purdue.

“She is the hardest worker I know and obviously paid off — she plays tennis at Purdue,” Wilson said of Ashlie. “So I just always tried to follow in her footsteps and be just as good as her and hopefully make it the same.”

For Wilson, it culminated on Saturday, a perfect season coming to a thrilling ending.

“It’s crazy,” Wilson said. “It’s actually crazy. I never like really imagined what it would be like. So it’s just like, I don’t even know. I don’t have words. I’m just so happy.”

The ER can wait, there is a state championship to win

Shortly after the doubles state championship is over, Jasper coach Scott Yarbrough is explaining how one-half of the winning duo is already gone. 

Allison Schnarr? She is still here. 

Brailyn Whaley? She is not.

“Brailyn,” Yarbrough is saying after the match, “fights heat a little bit and dehydration.”

What happened wasn’t really a surprise. Mind you, they’ve already played a three-set match earlier Saturday. The final of that match was 6-3, 5-7, 6-0. And now, it is not exactly scorching, but it is still fairly hot. During the championship match, Whaley gives a notice.

“She goes, 'Coach, I’m going to the ER when this is over,'” Yarbrough recalls. “...She goes, ‘I know it’s coming. We’re gonna play through it win or lose.’”

This match was, like the singles nearby, a three-set classic. Jasper wins the first set, 6-3. But North Central’s Rachel Grissom and Caroline Robinson had other ideas than two lose in two sets. North Central dominates the second set, 6-1. All tied at one. We go to a third set.

North Central keeps going, winning games one, two and three of the third set. Jasper gets one back. North Central tacks on another and leads 4-1. North Central is just two games away from a state title. And then… Jasper takes five games in a row to win, 6-4. The final is 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 for a Jasper victory. 

“We’re that big boxer that just takes the big swing,” Yarbrough said. “We’re gonna shoot the 3 all day long and we’re gonna take the big swing and we’re gonna come out smelling like roses or we’re gonna look bad. Well, the second set we looked bad. The beginning of the third set we looked bad. We gained our composure long enough to get back in.”

After the point that clinched the win, Schnarr and Whaley hug. During the awards ceremony, they hug again. It was a riveting display of tennis — both in doubles and singles championship matches. And shortly after, someone calls Yarbrough to get a picture of the state championship doubles team.

“OK, explain to him what we got going on,” Yarbrough says. “Explain to him.”

Whaley might have trouble handling the heat, but she is a state champion.