—

The adrenaline was pumping.

Up 5-3 in the first set of her Class 4A tennis championship match, Taylor Jordan could feel herself on the verge of a state championship.

So what happens? The excessive energy made the Midway senior double-faulted an entire game.

No problem. She simply broke serve to win the set, dominated the second set, and the title and an undefeated spring was hers as she beat Reynolds Crew of Metro Christian 6-4, 6-1 at the Oklahoma City Tennis Center on Saturday.

The battle between Jordan, the top seed, and the second-seeded Crew provided the only challenge to the Council Hill campus’ first female state champion in any sport. The 6-0, 6-1 semifinal win over Lauryn Sullins of Perry followed a weekend pattern of cruise control matches in which in all, only one set involved losing more than one game and in all, she lost six games in four matches.

“It feels special,” she said after capping a 29-0 spring. “That one game (involving the double-faults) was all about a lot of energy on my part, too much in fact.

“In the end it really came down to the physicality of it all. I had an advantage when it came to the heat. (Crew) had played a long semifinal and that took some out of her, I thought.”

And now there’s talk about the Midway tennis court being named after her.

“Not official,” said Midway athletic director and head football coach Jeremy Jackson, “But for a Class C (football school) competing against legitimate 4A schools across the board and having the year she’s had, I’m not sure there’s going to be a lot of objection. She’s done a lot for Midway High School.”

Court honor or not at home, the one she won Saturday is just fine and will make for nice day once school resumes, she said.

“It’s going to be pretty cool at school Monday. My cell phone, my dad’s cell, my sister’s cell, there’s been so many texts since it ended. I’m pretty stoked right now,” she said.

Tahlequah recorded a pair of top-four finishes in doubles. At No. 1 doubles, Karson Heist and Anne Linebarger  lost to top-seeded Jennifer Borsky and Kelsey Grace of Heritage Hall 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 then fell to Samatha Cassidy and Britton Scott 6-3, 6-1 in the third-place match.

The No. 2 doubles pair of Madison Carey and Katie Scheider took third, losing to another top seed from Heritage Hall in Hannah Bowen and Lindsey Grace, 6-1, 6-2.  Duncan’s Kelsey LeValley and Brooklyn Scott were their victims in the third-place match, 6-4, 6-1.

Tahlequah also placed in singles.

In No. 2 singles, Sarah Schiefelbein lost to Krista Waggoner of Carl Albert 7-5, 7-5 then beat Claremore 6-3, 6-3.

In No. 1 singles, Emily Linebarger lost to Meagan Hansen of Shawnee 6-3, 6-1 and then Samantha Still of Tulsa Washington 6-7, 6-2, 6-0 to finish eighth.

Muskogee’s Ashley Beavers, the only Rougher to make it to day two, lost to Lexi Lucas of Bixby in a consolation quarterfinal 7-6, 6-3.