Seahawks girls tennis flying high again, aiming for another state title

The sky appears to be the limit for the Myrtle Beach girls tennis team.

As the defending Class AAA state champions, the Seahawks have somehow kept improving. Now, another state title is within their grasp.

With victories over No. 1 Hartsville and No. 2 Berkeley this postseason, Myrtle Beach is just one win away from heading to its third straight Class AAA state title match and a familiar foe stands between the Seahawks and that coveted trip to Columbia.

“Well, last year we won a state championship and this year we’re playing even better,” said Seahawks No. 2 singles player Emma Springs, whose team will face off with Hilton Head on the road in the Lower State finals Monday. “… We just play really well together. As a team, we all have a strong bond with each other and I’m glad to be a part of this team.”

Springs was a member of last year’s team that outlasted Hilton Head 4-2 in the Lower State finals. It was the second year in a row that the Seahawks ousted Hilton Head in the postseason as they won in the Lower State semifinals before falling to Travelers Rest in the state finals in 2013.

“The past few years have been really good to us,” Seahawks coach Jeri Himmelsbach said. “But we’re focusing on what’s right in front of us.”

Himmelsbach applauds her team’s resilience and said you can never count Myrtle Beach out in any game, set, match or even season.

“You learn from your mistakes. The biggest thing for me – as a coach – is watching these girls climb back,” Himmelsbach said. “They can be down and the girls are so mentally focused that they can come back and fix it, correct it. They really figure it out on the court and I just think it’s incredible for such young girls to be doing that.”

The Truluck sisters are the bread and butter of the Seahawks.

Sophomore Elizabeth Truluck leads Myrtle Beach at No. 1 singles, while her sister Catherine Truluck – a member of the Seahawks’ No. 2 doubles team – is the vocal leader for the squad.

“I honestly don’t know where this team would be without those two,” Himmelsbach said.

In her debut season for Myrtle Beach last year, Elizabeth Truluck had quite the season. To go along with her state title, she was named the Toast of the Coast Player of the Year and finished fifth in the Class AAAA-AAA state individual tournament.

Catherine Truluck said part of the Seahawks’ success comes from just playing together at practice, which has helped Myrtle Beach familiarize itself with different styles of play.

“It’s an amazing team. We’re so good I think because we’re so close and we’re also great players and we learn off each other,” said Catherine Truluck, the team’s only senior. “So we know a lot of the styles of how people play tennis because we’re able to hit off each other.”

Himmelsbach sees her players constantly helping each other out and delving out advice.

“You don’t think about it, really. It just happens,” she said. “Everybody picks up a racket and just plays with each other and [they] click. We all just really try to help each other be better tennis players.”

Himmelsbach said Catherine Truluck’s play and leadership will be missed, but it helps that her squad’s elasticity is on another level.

“Catherine is a solid, strong player and we’re going to miss her, of course. But we still have some more tennis and words of wisdom to squeeze out of her,” Himmelsbach said. “To have only one senior, though, is a good problem to have.”

The Seahawks have had no shortage of good competition in the past few years.

In the past three years, Myrtle Beach has played each Hartsville, Hilton Head and Berkeley twice and has played Beaufort, Aiken, Chapin, Travelers Rest and Lexington all once.

“Myrtle Beach is one of the top teams in the state and they always have a good team. We knew coming in that they pretty much had the same girls from last year’s state championship team,” said Berkeley coach Joe Harnage, whose team fell to the Seahawks 7-0 in the second round of the playoffs Wednesday. “We knew it was going to be a tough match and they played well. My girls played well, too. Nothing against our girls, their girls are just a little bit better. We have a young team like them and we’ll be back next year.”

Along with their region opponents, the Seahawks have found great results even with a tough schedule.

“We’ve all been playing really well and have been on top of our game. It’s been [a good season],” Elizabeth Truluck said. “I think we’ve had a really good schedule and playing tough opponents has helped us a lot with our games. We’re definitely staying focused through our matches and we’re ready for what’s next.”

Himmelsbach said she enjoys having her girls playing in tournaments also because it gives them some experience against teams they likely wouldn’t see outside of tournament play.

“This year, we played in a preseason tournament out in Florence for the first time and we also played a tournament at Bishop England. They both really helped us tune up our games early in the year,” Himmelsbach said. “We enjoyed them. Playing in tournaments is good and always helps.”

Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head have been the most dominant teams in Class AAA over the past 15 years by far. Hilton Head won six state championships in a row from 2007-2012, while the Seahawks won three titles in a row (2000, 01, 02), two in a row in 2004 and 2005 and added another last year.

One team will be guaranteed a shot at another after Monday.

“I think just getting back into a groove has been huge,” Catherine Truluck said. “We’ve already had the experience of a big win and we just need to pull through now.”

This story was originally published November 8, 2015 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Seahawks girls tennis flying high again, aiming for another state title."