Brigette Root relishes the underdog role.
In volleyball last fall, few expected Grand Island Senior High to repeat the success it had in 2006. Root, a setter, led the Islanders back to the Class A championship match, where they lost a five-game heartbreaker.
This spring, some apparently believed Root wouldn't be a force at the Class A state tennis tournament. The seeding committee essentially wrote the Nebraska volleyball walk-on off, giving her a No. 5 spot at No. 2 singles.
Root responded by winning five matches to become Grand Island's first state singles champion since Tammy Wang won three straight No. 1 singles titles from 1994-96.
The senior beat Omaha Westside freshman Alison Slosburg 6-2, 6-4 in the final after a marathon 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win against top-seeded Michaela Burroughs of Millard North in the semifinals.
"This year, I knew I had a tiny bit of a shot," Root said. "When I saw I got seeded fifth, I was a little upset. In volleyball, we were always the underdog. I just had to go out and do my part to prove everyone wrong."
Root (24-2) survived a two-hour, 30-minute marathon match to advance to the final with a patient game plan.
"That's usually me on the other side frustrating people," Root said. "I usually make people make mistakes. I had to find a different way to pull it out.
"I think it was who keeps the ball in play. She's a great lobber. I had to pull up a lot. That helped."
Root needed a similar approach in the finale. She won five straight games to take control of the first set, then rallied from a 4-3 second-set deficit.
"It was harder in a different way -- a passive way," Root said. "That girl (Slosburg) kept coming back. She didn't make mistakes."
Root helped the Islanders to a fourth-place team finish with 28 points. She was the lone Islander winner during day two of the meet at the Koch Tennis Center.
"Brigette's kind of been the force to what we believe in," Grand Island co-coach Nancy Cowgill said. "That's hard work, compete to the end and come to practice every day never complaining."
Omaha Marian, behind unbeaten champions at No. 1 singles (freshman Brooke Urzendowski) and No. 1 doubles (Anna Kirshenbaum and Kathleen Schuele), finished first with 52 points. Omaha Westside was second with 38 1/2 points, while Millard West was third at 31.
"If you would have told us at the beginning of the year we would have finished fourth in the state, I would have said, ’Are you crazy, man?'" Cowgill said. "This group came in with no tennis skill. The progress we made, I'm so proud of the kids."
Grand Island's No. 1 doubles team of seniors Alicia Wheeler and Sharon Zach (18-5) finished fourth after a 6-0, 6-1 setback against Kirshenbaum and Schuele and tough 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-4 decision to Lincoln Southeast's Karlee Long and Julia Otte. The Southeast duo beat Wheeler and Zach three times this spring.
Freshman Jenna Helleberg and senior Ashley Wiedel (15-4) also were fourth at No. 2 doubles after they lost to state champions Megan Robertson and Jessica Spalding of Fremont 7-5, 2-6, 6-0 and Westside's Tiffany Gerdes and Michelle Major 6-2, 6-4.
A frustrating trend plagued both doubles teams. Wheeler and Zach blew a 5-2 first-set lead against Long and Otte, while Helleberg and Wiedel let an early 5-2 advantage slip away against Robertson and Spalding.
“(Co-coach) Scott (Cowgill) and I must do a poor job taking care of matches and taking care of leads,” Cowgill said. “With two seniors playing (at No. 1 doubles), wouldn’t it have been sweet to end with a win?”
