It was not the way that Lyon County’s Anna Crawford wanted her first regional championship appearance to end. It was not the way her opponent Sara Welshans wanted to get past Crawford and claim the regional title.
After pushing through the opening set of the 2nd Region girls’ championship match, her coach, her family, and others convinced Crawford that the knee pain she was experiencing was not going to get better on this day and that she needed to allow herself to heal and prepare for the state tennis tournament in under two weeks.
Crawford withdrew from the match after losing the first set 6-0, giving Welshans the regional title. She had been experiencing some discomfort early in the match and by the time she decided to stop, you could tell by watching her move that she was just not comfortable on the court. There was a long pause after the fifth game of the set with Crawford deciding to try and push on through.
But, things did not improve for her in the next game, and Crawford fought through her competitive instincts to continue on and decided to leave the court and start resting for the state tournament.
Observing from courtside, one could tell that it completely went against Crawford’s nature to step away, but ultimately, discomfort, advice from others, and healing up before the trip to state, won out.
Crawford, who was the #2 seed had to survive a huge test of stamina to reach the final. Her semifinal match against #3 seed Jaylee Duncan took 2 ½ hours to play, with Crawford pulling out a 2-6, 7-6 (10-8), 1-0 (11-9) win.
With her runner-up finish, Crawford makes her second consecutive trip to the girls’ state tennis tournament.
