By Thomas Sellers Jr.
MURFREESBORO – Shay Johnson is familiar with making headlines in Brighton sports. The former Lady Cardinal standout gained recognition with her ability in basketball and volleyball. But her most successful sport at Brighton High might have been tennis. Now she is back as a coach and trying to make more noise and bring exposure to Lady Cardinal Tennis like last Thursday in Murfreesboro. The proud coach was on hand early that morning at Old Fort Park to watch her duo of Cassie David and Morgan Leek take on the combination of Hendersonville’s Grace Phillips and Caroline Miller in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A State Girls’ Doubles. Hendersonville took the match up 6-0, 6-1. Despite that early exit from Murfreesboro, Johnson said her seniors have left a historic mark on Brighton Lady Cardinal Tennis. ”They’re both really consistent players,” she said. “They play the back row. They are really good at singles. When you put them both together for doubles, they’ve gotten more aggressive. They’re starting to play a more aggressive net game. “It’s helped and they have figured each other out,” Johnson added. “This is there second year of playing together, so they’re serves are getting stronger, hits are getting stronger, more consistent and more experienced. They’ve just become the dynamic duo.” Two straight trips to State have inspired younger Lady Cardinals like sophomore MG Smith and freshman MG Washington. “I’m losing them both next year,” Johnson said. “They rest of the team and myself too look up to them. My younger girls, MG Squared, look up to them and they want to be here. They see those girls as, ‘Hey they went to State two year in row. We need to do that.’ It helps motivate the team and themselves as well.” Lady Cardinals no longer dream of going to State after the success of Davis and Leek. Johnson works alongside Cardinal Head Tennis Coach Kim Greer to bring the entire program to a higher level. “We’ve come a long way since I was a freshman,” Johnson said. “We would just go out there and hit around. Now we have drills at practice, we’re working on different things. We work on foot work and serves. I think really having two coaches we can spend time with our players. He helps the girls and I help the boys too. I think we work really together.” Davis and Leek have set the standard for future Lady Cardinals. Johnson hopes her younger players have taken note because she plans on making the trip to Murfreesboro a regular part of her yearly routine.
“We’ll be back,” she concluded. “Not a lot of people follow Brighton Tennis. But we’ve been to State two years in a row and we need to keep that streak going. Hopefully MG and MG will be back here next year.”
