[04/02/01] Everything went according to script Saturday at the 10th Julie Abraham Memorial Tournament.

Vicksburg High’s Bill Hassell and Hennessey Howell won the singles titles, and the team of Kiger Sigh and Jordan Henry won in boys doubles in the last varsity match of the tournament to give VHS its second straight city championship.

The Gators won the event 3-2 over Warren Central in a new scoring format. This year’s JAMT was set up as a regular tournament, instead of the round-robin format used the last three years.

“I knew singles and boys doubles were really strong positions for us, and we had already played Warren Central at the Brandon tournament last weekend, so we knew what to expect from them,” VHS coach Melodie Romeo said, adding with a smile, “I have excellent players, and if it was just my coaching skills alone, I don’t think we would win.”

Howell had a bye in the first round of the girls singles competition and cruised past WC’s Lori Beth Shelton in the finals, 6-0, 6-0.

The Vikings took a 2-1 lead on the strength of their doubles teams, however.

Katie Malik and Jessie Tomlinson defeated VHS’ Erin Morrison and Beth Thomas in the girls’ doubles final, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, and Tim Ruff and Maryam Haque won a pair of matches in mixed doubles, including a 6-1, 6-2 victory over St. Aloysius’ Jerez White and Carrie Neill in the final.

Ruff and Haque were the only winners who didn’t have a bye in the first round.

“Tim Ruff and his partner, Maryam Haque, are the best mixed doubles team we’ll face this year. They’re older and more experienced, and they just used that experience today,” St. Al coach Mike Lyell said.

WC’s hopes of winning the overall title disappeared in a span of about 30 minutes, however, when Hassell halted a third-set rally by Chase Koestler and Henry and Sigh blanked St. Al’s Patrick Comes and Patrick Sadler in the second set of the boys doubles final to win 6-3, 6-0.

WC’s Koestler sent his match with Hassell to a third set by winning the second set 6-4, but Hassell quickly went ahead 4-0 in the final set.

Koestler rallied to win three of the next four games, but Hassell closed him out with a pair of overhead smashes and an ace in the final game to finish the 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win.

Hassell said he was a little worried when Koestler began his rally.

“Yeah, because we played our first match and I won pretty easy, but he had come back. So I knew he was going to fight hard,” Hassell said.

Right around the time Hassell finished his match, Sigh and Henry started their second set against Comes and Sadler. Except for Sigh’s embarrassing whiff on a slow drop shot which he laughed off the Gator tandem dominated the set.

“That’s just kind of an on-edge feeling, because you don’t know which way it’s going to go,” WC coach Jennifer Wilkerson said while watching the doubles final.

Wilkerson added that while the city tournament was fun, and good practice, it still was just that practice.

“We play Vicksburg in April, and it’s just good practice for district, because the district tournament is what counts,” she said.