By Tommy Keeler Jr. -- Daily Staff Writer

WINCHESTER — Handley's Elizabeth Gardiner and Mykenzie Garrett were so upset they weren't even speaking to each other.

Best friends on and off the court, Gardiner and Garrett had just posted a bagel — a 6-0 loss — in the second set of the Northwestern District individual doubles final, but a 10-minute break in Gardiner's family van with a little music did the trick.

"Once we got off the court and took the break we started laughing and relaxing," Gardiner said. "We listened to some music."

"A little Taylor Swift," Garrett said with a laugh.

Once the Handley pair emerged from the break, the smiles were back and their games followed as they rallied for a 7-5, 0-6, 6-4 victory over James Wood's Kari Pope and Headley Wilson.

The win capped a Handley sweep of the boys and girls singles and doubles titles. Gardiner won the girls singles title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Pope. On the boys side, Handley's John Adams carried on the Judges' long-standing tradition of district dominance. He defeated Central's Derek Snarr, 6-0, 6-4 in the singles final.

Adams then teamed with Kyle Stickley for a 6-2, 7-5 win over Sherando's Scott Sottosanti and Christian Van de Commert.

"It's really good to be able to win both," Adams said. "[2007 Handley graduate] Alex [Funkhouser] was a real inspiration to me. It's great to be able to follow in his footsteps. It's a great honor to play at No. 1 at Handley. Hopefully we'll do well at regionals and at states just like Alex did well at regionals and states."

In the most dramatic match of the day, Gardiner and Garrett saved an early set point at 4-5 in the first set, and then were able to break in the 11th game and Garrett held serve to take the opening set.

Pope and Wilson weren't about to go away quietly. The competitive first set gave the Colonels' top two players more confidence.

"We knew we could do it," Wilson said. "The first set just showed us that we could give them a real run for their money."

Even after Gardiner and Garrett took a 5-1 lead in the final set, the match was far from over, as Pope and Wilson fought off four match points in the next game.

Pope and Wilson fought back to within 5-4 and had three break points on Gardiner's serve, but couldn't convert. The Colonels were unable to return a serve to set up the Judges' seventh match point and another service winner ended the two-hour, 14-minute match.

"It was a stressful situation, but I had done this before," Gardiner said of the final game. "I think the last time we played them it was the same thing — I had to serve it out. I like doing it.

"[After the final point] I was like 'finally now I can go lie down.'"

Despite the loss, Pope and Wilson were gleaming with confidence.

"The important thing is we didn't give up and we never will," Wilson said. "I can't even explain the confidence this gives us. We thought coming in we probably could do this, but now we know 100 percent that we can do it."

The boys doubles final gave Adams and Stickley a little revenge. They had lost to the Sherando's top doubles team earlier in the season, but made sure it didn't happen again.

The Handley pair went up a break in the second set at 4-3, but the two teams kept trading breaks until the final game. Stickley was able to serve it out and give the Judges the title.

"When we lost to them last time it really put things in perspective — that we're not unbeatable," Stickley said. "It made us work that much harder."

In the boys singles final, Adams cruised through the opening set, but Snarr fought back to 4-4 in the second. Adams then held serve and broke Snarr to win his first singles title.

"In the second set he was playing better than I've ever seen him play," Adams said. "He was really attacking well, so I just tried to attack him and get to the net more at the end and it worked."

In the girls singles final, Gardiner erased an early deficit and then proceeded to win eight straight games to take control of the match.

"I was a little tight to start the match," Gardiner said. "Once I loosened up I started to move better. After I got that first game I felt better. I started to perk up."

*Contact Tommy Keeler Jr. at tkeeler@nvdaily.com

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