The Luck of the Draw
TSU/Cookeville JV- A Tale of Two Tournaments 

The CHS Academic Team found out the hard way the past two weeks that the luck of the draw is a two-edged sword- sometimes you can use it your advantage and slice your way into the play-offs while other times it can turn around and cut your heart out.

The varsity team completed its regular season February 17th by taking two teams to Tennessee State University.  Both teams began the day with big wins over second teams from Cookeville and Hillsboro respectively before the second team dropped their next two matches to Richland and Cookeville II to complete the morning rounds at 1-2.  Meanwhile Team One continued their winning ways to score victories over Oneida and Richland to set up a match after lunch between the field’s two remaining unbeatens, Central and Cookeville I.  That match proved to be no contest as Cookeville I rolled to an impressive 315-55 win.  The first team recovered to finish with 5-1 with wins over Hendersonville I and Hillsboro I to enter the play-offs seeded second.  While the first team was bulling their way to second, the second team was quietly using the tournament’s Swiss-pairing format to their advantage as they won all three afternoon matches and ended the day 4-2 and the tournament’s fourth seed.

Unfortunately both teams were one and done in the play-offs as Team Two fell hard to eventual champion Cookeville and Central’s first team found it could not duplicate its earlier success against Hendersonville.  Seniors Emily Senefeld and Philip Beck were named to the all-tournament team and for the first time Central won the coveted Sportsmanship Award.

The junior varsity traveled to Cookeville on February 24th to compete in the annual Wonder Bowl.  The team knew from the start they had their work cut out for them as their schedule included matches against Halls I, Cordova and Oak Ridge.  They started off with a big win over Campbell County III but let the Cordova game slip away late.  Knowing one more loss would end any hopes of making the play-offs the five sophomores Shane Allen, Ryan Linger, Luke Maddux, Kathleen Smith and Michael Smith dispatched Fayetteville before facing Halls I who out-quicked the Lions and dashed the CHS A-Team’s play-off dreams.  With the play-offs out of reach, Central decided to go for a high total point finish and the team’s 375- 240 win over Oak Ridge allowed them to finish tied for second in total points but their 3-2 record left them in ninth place overall and on the outside looking in as the play-offs began.

Central will cap off the 2000-2001 season March 16th and 17th in the TACA State Tournament.