The West Point 14 and under tennis team fell one game shy of competing in the championship game while playing in Mobile, Ala.  Left to right:  John Wesley Williamson, Kim Kelly, Anna Ready, Jessi Cole, Will Kelly, Conner Baird, David McElwain.  They are coached by Julie Ready.  

 By Kenneth Mister
Daily Times Leader

The West Point 14 and under tennis team came up one game short of playing for the national championship.  West Point placed third in a hard fought battle in Mobile, Ala.  

After placing first in the state tennis tournament in July, West Point was given the lone duty of representing the state of Mississippi.  With the win, they advanced to compete in the USTA Junior Team Tennis Sectionals Championship in Mobile on August 21-23.  

Although West Point, whose team members have been playing together for the last four years, won all of their head-to-head matches, the overall winners were calculated based on the total number of games won, which put Mississippi one game behind Georgia.  

One more win would have advanced West Point to the championship.

There were two flights and the winner of each flight would go on to play in the finals.

During the tournament, West Point defeated Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Kentucky.  

The loss was a hard pill to swallow, Coach Julie Ready said.

"The kids knew going into it that we had to have the most games to win," she said.  "If we had one more game we would have gone to the finals because we beat Georgia.  It was a hard loss for the kids."