Happy Birthday, Dave!

Tomorrow (October 20) is Dave's birthday. His girls' team at Wichita Collegiate gave him a slightly early birthday present by finishing runner-up in the Kansas high school state tennis tournament on Saturday. Although his Spartans are perennial champions, Dave was thrilled with the performance of this very young squad. In my absence on the festive occasion, I am including two pieces of information. The first is verse one of the Happy Birthday song in Danish, which is the native tongue of our Grandma Hawley. (If anyone would like a translation, I will include it tomorrow!) The second is the newspaper account of this weekend's state finals. Happy Birthday, Dave and may the Cincinnati Reds one day be competitive again!

I dag er det Dave's fødselssdag
Hurra, hurra, hurra!
Han sikkert sig en gave får
som han har ønsket sig i år
med dejlig chokolade og kager til.

Collegiate Nets Second Place In 3-2-1A
BY TRAVIS RICHARDSON
Wichita Eagle correspondent
PRAIRIE VILLAGE - Wichita Collegiate coach David Hawley didn't sound like a coach whose team just finished second.The Spartans swept the individual championships in Saturday's Class 3-2-1A girls tennis tournament, but finished second to Marysville in the team finish.
"For us to play at that level, and to finish that close, I'm more ecstatic at this than I have been over other championships," Hawley said. "I couldn't be happier. Every kid that played at state gave us points that we needed."
Entering Saturday, the Spartans had three competitors in position to place first. Sophomore Elsie Bigler, the only Spartan with previous state tournament experience, defeated WaKeeney's Olivia Fabrizius 6-4, 6-3, in the semifinals to advance to the final. Bigler, who finished 11th last year, knew what to expect going into the last match.
"I knew I was going to have to play tough," Bigler said. "I had played (Marysville's Jessica Downard) before, in sub-state, so I kind of knew how she played and what to expect."
But the match started off on the wrong foot. Downard took a 4-3 game advantage in the first set. Bigler took the next two, before Downard answered back in three straight games to win 7-5.Bigler responded. She took the next two sets 6-1, 6-1 to win the title.
"It feels great. It hasn't really sunk in yet," Bigler said about her state championship.
On the doubles side of the field for Collegiate, Kristen Dunn and Grace LeMaster believed they were ready for a championship of their own.
Reaching the title game "was always, almost like a dream," Dunn said. "We just pushed so hard, because we wanted it so bad."But similar to Bigler, the duo dropped their first set to Marysville's Stevie Pacha and Sam Weeks 6-3. Even with the early deficit, the partners knew it wasn't over.
"We had to fight through it," Dunn said.
"We had to come out and win that second set," LeMaster added.
The two stepped up their play, winning the second set 6-0. And in the decisive final set, LeMaster lofted a shot over the net that Marysville couldn't return, sealing the 6-3 set victory and state championship.
"I'm still in shock," LeMaster said.
But the victories were not enough, as Marysville finished with 36 points, taking the team title by three. Conway Springs finished third with 30 points behind the strong play of doubles partners Laura Gerber and Bridget Luckner.
The two finished in third place, defeating teammates Allison Gerber and Christine Robinson 6-1, 6-2.
At Prairie Village
Team scores--1. Marysville 36; 2. Wichita Collegiate 33; 3. Conway Springs 30; 4. Claflin 13; WaKeeney 12; 5. Osborne 10; 6. Ellinwood 7; 7. Sterling 6; 8. Hutchinson Trinity 6; 9. Tribune 5; 10. Pittsburg Colgan 4; 11. South Central 4; 12. Phillipsburg 3; 13. Ashland 2; 14. Goodland 1.

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com