East Clarendon's Knowlton shines on the court en route to Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week

The East Clarendon girls tennis team had another spectacular season this fall, earning a home playoff match to begin the SCHSL 2A postseason last week. At the heart of that success is Addie Knowlton, their rock-solid No. 1 singles standout. She led the Lady Wolverines to a dominant sweep in their playoff opener against Orangeburg-Wilkinson, earning Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week honors in the process.

"Addie is the only player on the team that's been with me since I started coaching and hasn't graduated yet. We've been together for four years now, and the growth that she's had over the last four years has just been incredible to see," EC head coach Morgan Keefe said of her standout junior. "I know growth comes with age, but her taking those strides by practicing on her own outside of practice and doing her workouts by herself, taking the initiative to get some lessons from her uncle and practicing with her sister as much as she has, her game has just completely changed over the last four years. She hits the ball harder, she runs faster, she works harder. Everything about her as an athlete and as an individual is just amazing.

"And her character outside of tennis; she's such a people person. If you know her, you love her. She's funny, she keeps everybody motivated, she keeps us on our toes. That's something that has helped her with her game is just being joyful."

The Lady Wolverines had a sizeable group of seniors last fall and just one senior this season, so Knowlton stepped up to fill in that void of leadership this year.

"It was kind of hard, honestly, because we lost so many of our starting varsity players, but overall it turned out really well. It turned out way better than I thought," Knowlton said of the season. "I was the only underclassman on varsity my first two years, so I had a lot of role models to show me how to be a leader, and I think that definitely helped me be able to help out the ninth- and 10th-graders on this year's team."

Knowlton's work ethic was the key for her success this year, as she went 11-4 individually during the regular season before cruising to a 6-0, 6-0 win over O-W's Destiny Washington on Thursday. She credits a lot of work with her older sister, Ann Grace Knowlton, and uncle, Dave Bruner, for helping her continue to develop her game.

"I definitely took more time to focus on how to hit the ball. I practice a lot with my sister; she really was there to help practice a lot. That really helped me on the court," Knowlton said. "My uncle taught me a lot. He's in Charleston and actually just won something for the state. He taught me how to serve and put more spin on my balls to make it more tough for the opponent."

After an excellent regular season, Knowlton and the Lady Wolverines hosted O-W to open the playoffs, marking their third consecutive season of playing at home to kick off the postseason. The junior is thrilled to play a role in setting that standard for the program.

"It's a lot of fun playing at home because a lot more people show up for you. It's really motivational," Knowlton said. "It was really good for us to have that big of a win in the first round of the playoffs. It gave us a lot of confidence."

Unfortunately, East Clarendon's playoff journey came to an end on Tuesday with a 6-0 loss to Philip Simmons. Knowlton put up a fight but lost a tough battle with Harper Cohen 6-2, 6-0. The closest score came at No. 3, where Jada Miles fell 6-3, 6-2 against Julie Hensley. While it was a tough second-round matchup for EC, Knowlton and company will take some important lessons into the offseason with most of the roster returning next fall.

"We definitely learned that teams are going to be better than us," she said. "Not everything is going to be handed to us; we're going to have to work hard if we want to make it far."

Keefe was proud of the fight Knowlton and the rest of the Lady Wolverines showed in their finale on Tuesday.

"The score didn't reflect the fight that she put up," Keefe said. "Almost every single game, they got to deuce, and it came down to that very last point that she struggled to pull out to win that game, but she fought hard, she kept her spirits up as much as she could. I was very proud of how all of the girls played but especially Addie because she read the other girl's game, adjusted how she needed to, and she fought real hard."