Bartlett Wins Third State Title

In this morning's Div. II-AA singles tennis match against Gabriela Rangel from JPII, GPS senior Claire Bartlett won the first set 6-2. The second set was knotted at 6-6, but Bartlett took the tiebreaker 7-3.

The match started with the opponents exchanging breaks twice, leaving the 1st set score at 2-2. But then Bartlett won 4 straight games to claim the first set.

The second set was tightly contested, with the lead changing hand several times. Bartlett was out to a 2-1 lead, but fell behind 3-2. She rallied to go ahead 5-4, and was serving to win the match. But Rangle broke her serve to even the game at 5-5, then held serve to take a 6-5 advantage over Bartlett. Claire was able to hold serve to tie the set at 6-6 and force the 7 point tie breaker.

In the tie breaker, Bartlett won the first two points to put herself in control. Rangle got one back, but Bartlett then extended her lead further. Holding a 6-3 advantage, Bartlett's serve on match point was returned wide, sealing the victory for the GPS senior. Match point did not live up to match itself, which included some long points and great winners by both players. After shaking hands with Rangel, Bartlett quickly met her coach and mother Sue Bartlett for a shared moment of tears, joy, relief and excitement.

With the win, Bartlett becomes one of only 6 tennis players in TSSAA state history to win 3 State Championships, the most recent before her being Stephanie Harris, also of GPS ('02, '04 and '05). Harris may have been a four-time champion, but she missed her sophomore season ('o3) due to injury. In 2004, Bartlett was a state semifinalist as an 8th grader. She lost 6-4, 6-4 in the semis, missing out on what would have been an all-GPS final where she would have faced Harris.

VIDEO: Match Point-Bartlett's serve returned wide.