Hill breaks Munster title jinx

INDIANAPOLIS -- She wanted to be positive, wanted to be hopeful, wanted to think that this year's state finals wouldn't end with yet another disappointment for the Munster girls tennis team.

And then Mary Hill saw the courts at North Central High School where the Mustangs fell just shy of a team title each of the past four seasons. And then she saw her opponent, Columbus North's Caroline Hedrick, who stood between Hill and an individual state title Saturday. The same girl who handed Hill the only loss of her illustrious high school career in last year's state semifinals.

Here we go again? Yeah, the thought crossed Hill's mind.

"Every time I look at these courts, I just get bitter," Hill said. "I thought maybe Munster's destined to never win."

Hill's trip to Indianapolis again ended in tears. Only this time they were tears of joy.

When the marathon match was over, when she had gutted out a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 victory after more than two and a half hours, Hill hunched over and put her head in her hands. Hedrick, who battled leg cramps most of the third set, hobbled to the net to shake hands with Northwest Indiana's first individual girls tennis state champion.

"That's definitely my first time crying after a match I won," Hill said. "This isn't even real. It doesn't even feel real."

Hill couldn't have scripted a more perfect way to end her perfect season and cap her record-setting career. As a senior, she was 28-0.

For her career, she was 104-1. On Saturday, with plenty of friends, family and teammates looking on, she avenged her lone loss to win the biggest match of her life. And she cemented her legacy as one of the best -- maybe the best -- girls tennis players Indiana has ever seen.

"I don't know if we'll have another state champ in a long time," Munster coach Bob Modesto said. "To say you're the one and only state champion from Northwest Indiana is just huge. We have just knocked our head against a brick wall here. To come here and do this is phenomenal."

Hedrick (26-1) was that brick wall last year. She defeated Hill in an exhausting three-set semifinal match en route to capturing the state title. If anything good came out of that loss for Hill, it was that she knew what to expect from Hedrick this time around.

"She's a wall," Hill said. "You can't hit one winner and expect the point to be over. You have to hit at least three or four."

Hedrick's quickness and ability to keep the ball in play counteracted Hill's power game. Hill won the final three games of the first set to take control of the match. But when Hill took a 5-2 lead in the second set, the resilient Hedrick battled back. The Columbus North junior won the next five games to force a third set.

"I came in this year completely confident," said Hill, who defeated Terre Haute North's Brittany Farmer 6-1, 6-4 in the morning semifinal.

"I didn't have much doubt until I was up 5-2 (in the second set) and she came back. I was trying to calm down, but it wouldn't work. I couldn't keep a ball in (play)."

Modesto didn't need to get too creative with his pep talk prior to the third set.

"He was just saying, 'She took this away from you before. You can't let her do it again,'" Hill said.

She jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set, then stifled Hedrick's comeback bid to end her record-setting career with the one thing she didn't have -- a state title.

"It's not only great for Munster, it's great for the region," Modesto said. "I think it opens up a whole new chapter for tennis in Northwest Indiana."