BOWLING GREEN -- When the Cougar tennis program started the season, coach Sherry Vincent knew she had some big shoes to fill with the departure of a very good senior class, especially on the women's side.

Last year, Stephanie McKinney and Megan Gentry teamed up to win the regional doubles final over teammates Rachel Green and Mary Beth Killingbeck. That 1-2 finish in the doubles, when combined with a good showing from youngsters Abby Watkins and Christie Bolton in the singles, added up to a regional title and a trip to Lexington for the Lady Cougars.

This year figured to be a learning one for Grayson County, both for the women and the men, but evidently both teams were quick studies as they had an excellent showing in last week's Regional Tournament, with the women taking a surprising second place and the men finishing third in the 18-team field.

The women's doubles combination of junior Kendra Childress and freshman Susan Higdon surprised the field by winning the doubles competition. The week before, the pair had reached the finals of the Warren Central Invitational only to lose to the Greenwood pair of Leslie Hazel and Megan Martin, 0-6, 3-6. That gave Childress and Higdon the number-two seed for the regional tournament.

In the regional final, the same duo locked up in battle once again, but this time the outcome was much different. The Grayson County pair won the first set 7-5, but dropped the second 3-6, setting up one final set for the championship. The Cougar duo stood firm and won the last set 6-4 to earn themselves a trip to the State Tennis Championships, which begin on Thursday, May 30.

On the men's side, the doubles combination of Miles Huffman and Wes Whitmore came into the season as the reigning regional doubles champions, but were knocked back to the number-two seed after finishing second in the Warren Central Invitational to Glasgow's Luke Flener and Robert Martin. The pair met again in the regional final and the Glasgow duo was once again dominant, winning 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 and helping their school take the team title over Bowling Green.

The runner-up finish will still entitle Huffman and Whitmore to return to Lexington for the state championships, but they will have to face a regional champion in the first round.

Watkins and Bolton had good showings in the singles competition, with each of them making it to the quarter-final round before running into the two top seeds of the tournament and being knocked out.

Watkins won her first match 6-4, 6-1 over Leah Buster, of Metcalfe County, then defeated Hatcher, of Warren East, 6-0, 6-0. In the quarter-final round, Watkins ran up against the tournament's number-one seed, Marcia Eisenstein, of Glasgow, and went down 0-6, 1-6.

Eisenstein went on to claim the singles championship, defeating Greenwood's Laura Vilines. It was Vilines that eliminated Bolton in the quarter-final round, though Christie put up a fine battle before falling 2-6, 5-7. Bolton beat Hart County's Amber Lowe in the first round 6-4, 6-2, then beat Brown, of Clinton County, 6-0, 6-0 to make it into the quarter-finals.

In the men's singles, it was a learning experience for both eighth grader Garrett Bernard and freshman Bryce Meredith. Both made it into the second round of play after opening round wins. Bernard beat Hardin, of Cumberland County, 6-1, 6-0, before falling 0-6, 0-6 to the sixth-seeded Chris Conner, of Greenwood. Meredith beat Hodson, also of Cumberland County, 6-1, 6-0, but fell 0-6, 1-6 to second-seed Ryan Durham, of Glasgow.

Coach Vincent was very pleased with the way his team came together at the right time.

"I'm really proud of the improvement of all our players," she said. "We will continue to work this summer and will be determined to be a regional contender next season. These players have been great students of the game."