A tennis player like Madison Clarke just doesn’t come along
very often.
The Xavier Prep senior is a prime example of what a player
should be -- a strong presence on the court who doesn’t show up the opponent
with demonstrative actions and is humble person off the court.
Clarke won the Division I state championship as a sophomore
in 2013, as a junior in 2014 and on Saturday (May 2) made it three in a row
with a 6-1, 6-0 domination of Peoria Liberty’s Corinne Prost. Clarke was the
No. 1 seed, Prost No. 3.
In the semifinals on Saturday morning, Clarke defeated No. 4
Madi Moore of Scottsdale Desert Mountain 6-0, 6-0.
How dominant was Clarke? She dropped just two games the
entire tournament.
“That just doesn’t happen very much,’’ said Xavier coach Laurie
Martin.
Clarke, who will play collegiately at Santa Clara, was
relieved that this was over. Now she can turn her attention to helping Xavier
win a fourth straight state team title next week.
“I played the match today like I played the whole tournament.
I thought I played well the whole tournament,’’ Clarke said.
She will never take these three championships for granted.
“I am so excited to win three in a row,’’ she said. “There
was definitely a lot of hard work that went into it.’’
It probably helped that Prost’s semifinal match against No.
2 seed Yolena Carlon of Phoenix Desert Vista went three sets and lasted nearly
three hours.
Clarke said that didn’t necessarily play into her game plan.
“We were both pretty tired. It was hot out there,’’ Clarke
said.
Virtually all of Clarke’s shots were working, forehand,
backhand, lob, with nearly perfect placement along the side boundaries and the
back line.
“She anticipates the ball early, puts her opponent on the
defensive right away, puts them back on their heels,’’ Martin said. “Her timing
is great and she hits the cleanest ball.
“The more pressure you put on her, the more she rises to the
occasion and raises the bar.
“She always has been a good player. We will miss her for her
ability, but how she led us in other ways, served as an example for the younger
players through her work ethic.
“I think she is going to wind up being one of the best in
Arizona history.’’
The Xavier doubles team of Scarlet Rush and Caroline James
entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed and finished as the consolation
champion.
The duo fell to No. 2 seed Rebecca Salaway and Grace Koester
of Scottsdale Chaparral 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals earlier on Saturday and then
defeated Chandler Basha’s Jewel Brundrett and Rahgan Jensen 6-2, 6-0 in the
consolation match.
Martin’s daughter, Amanda, the assistant coach who works
with the doubles players, said Rush, a senior, achieved quite a legacy of her
own, winning three state doubles titles (with Maggie Cohen) and finishing up
with a consolation title.
Rush and James, a junior, had not played together much
during the season, but quickly developed into a formidable team.
“It takes awhile to learn each other’s style of play and
they did a good job of it in such a short time,’’ Amanda Martin said.
"This was really Caroline’s first year in tournament play and
it’s a tribute to her to play as well as she did. I think she was our most
improved player and she will be even better next year.’’
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