MJCA's Harwell wins fifth district crown

NASHVILLE — Crystal Harwell all-but-unbeatable Mt. Juliet Christian career continued Tuesday with her fifth district championship while two Friendship Christian doubles teams beat MJCA in the District 8-A-AA finals at Hadley Park.
Harwell defeated Macon County's Katie Chunn 6-0, 6-2 in the semifinals and White House's Makala Payne 6-1, 6-0 in the finals for her third straight undefeated singles season in district play. The senior has lost just once in singles in the last three years, last year to Greenbrier in the Region 4-A-AA finals. This is her second straight district singles championship after winning three doubles titles with Victoria Reed before the pair won the state two years ago.
Her teammates, Cindy Overstreet and Kate Walker, upset top-seed Chloe Morris and Gracie Fuqua of Greenbrier 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals before falling to Friendship's Paige Watson and Christen Tressler 6-3, 6-1 in the finals.
On the boys' side, Mt. Juliet Christian's Josh McKenzie and Andrew Ziady ousted Merrol Hyde's Welch brothers 6-2, 6-1 before falling to Frinedship's Andrew Neely and Dillon Bane 6-3, 6-1 in the finals.
Both MJCA doubles teams will join their Friendship counterparts and Harwell in the regional which begins Monday. District 7-A-AA is scheduled to host the region which is usually at Tennessee Tech.