There was just a slight breeze in Murfreesboro Friday afternoon, but blowing in the wind was a familiar sound, an inspiring chant of "Come On" from long-time MCHS tennis coach Dickie Adkins, who was cheering on his last Tigerettes' doubles team of Lauren Blackmon and Cortni Beardsley in the District 11A/AA Tournament final at Old Fort Park.

Adkins, along with his long-time trusted assistant Jason Donahue, will retire coaching varsity at the end of the season after a successful 24-year career, mentoring Tiger tennis.

'Time for a change'

"Sometimes you just know when it's time for a change," said Adkins. "I'm getting a little bit older and need to have a little bit more time at home."

Adkins will stay on to help the middle school program at LMS.

"I am still going to concentrate on the young ones," said Adkins. But, it is just hard now for me to do both high school and middle."

On Friday, the Blackmon and Beardsley duo fell (1-6, 4-6) to Page's Brenna Minyard and Makenna Hart, but the pair will compete in next week's region tournament, extending Adkins' stint.

The always-positive Adkins said about Friday's match, "Today's match was tough, Page has a great team, but the good thing about this is we get to go to region, try to re-group and see if we can get back to state. Lauren and Cortni have played very well together and work good as a team, so we are going to give it our best."

Years of growth

Under Adkins, the MCHS tennis team has travelled thousands of miles, competed in hundreds of tournaments, sent numerous players to college, and has grown into one of the most respected tennis programs in the south.

"When I first started with the tennis program, I wanted to help get kids scholarships and I wanted to put tennis on the map at Marshall County," said Adkins. "Every coach's dream is to go to the state, but not only to go, but win a state tournament and we have accomplished that."

The Tigers and Tigerettes have won numerous district and region titles under Adkins, and since just before the turn of the century, MCHS has been a fixture at the TSSAA State Tournament.

Early years

In the 1997-1998 season, Megan Adams became the first-ever state tournament participant for Adkins in girl's singles.

Adams would return to the big dance two more times, while John McElroy made the state boys singles in 1998-1999.

After a one-year absence in 1999-2000, MCHS would be a force in prep tennis, sending at least one player to the Spring Fling for an amazing 11- year run that ended last year.

In 2004-2005, Tori Richardson and Kayla Branaman, who paired up the year before and made it to the state semifinals when the tournament was held in Memphis, broke through to the Class A/AA doubles finals, but lost after having double-match point.

"I'll never forget, after the match Tori Richardson went off and we could not find her," said Adkins. "She went off into the woods crying and when we found her, she promised me that we would win the state tournament."

Building a winner

Things changed that day forever with a promise and nothing would get in the way, not even a wreck on the morning of glory just two years later after Richardson's vow to win.

It did not happen right away as Richardson would return the following year with a new partner in Lyssa Wiles, but the duo would not get past the quarterfinals.

In the championship season, Richardson set a school record, making her fourth consecutive state tournament appearance in 2006 as part of the seasoned doubles team with Wiles.

It almost did not happen when only Richardson showed up as scheduled on that wild May morning.

Wiles was trapped between Spring Hill and Murfreesboro because of a big wrecked they encountered on State Route 840.

Reaching the finals

After negotiating an alternate route, Wiles arrived just in time to take the court for the morning quarterfinals where she and Richardson fell behind versus a pair of University of Jackson School seniors, losing the first of the best of three sets match (2-6).

From there, the magic commenced as Richardson and Wiles found their focus to sweep the final two sets (6-2, 6-3) to advance to the semifinals.

The match to reach the finals was a quick one as the MCHS duo hammered Madison Academic Academy (6-2, 6-3).

Richardson and the sophomore Wiles broke through early in the title match, winning the first set 6-4, but the David Lipscomb duo of Ellen Ross and Julianne McMeen had other ideas when they evened the match at one set all.

State title

Not to be denied, Richardson and Wiles found the eye of the Tigerettes.

Richardson was joining in with Adkins' "Come On" chant on the court as the duo went on to win the third and final set 6-4 to bring home the long awaited state championship to Lewisburg, fulfilling 20 years of toiling and training by Adkins and Donahue.

"That was the highlight of my tennis career," said Adkins. "That was huge memory because of the promise she made to me and Tori and Alyssa fulfilled that dream."

The following year, Wiles would tie Richardson's mark of four consecutive state tournament appearances, teaming up with Jenna Branaman.

They tried their best to defend the crown, but the Lipscomb duo returned to take the title away.

Much success

The next four tennis seasons were filled with successes, including sectional appearances by both the boys and girls, state singles trips by Conner Kennedy and Allison Adcock, and pair of girls doubles participants with the last duo of Adcock and Kelsi Richardson advancing to the Spring Fling in 2010-2011.

"I just want to say that if it wasn't for coach Donahue, we would have never been as successful as we have been," said Adkins. "He was on my first very first tennis team, he has always backed me up and he has been a big part of this program, the kids love him and listen to him and he helped win that state championship."

Donahue said about his long association with Adkins and the tennis program, "I remember a few years ago at a school board meeting they wanted to get rid of some of the smaller sports and I spoke up and said that if it wasn't for some of these tennis scholarships, these kids may not have stepped on campus."