NATCHEZ — One game lost was the only thing separating the Colleen Fury Southwest Mississippi team from a USTA 3.0 state title.

Fury’s squad of eight ladies competed this past weekend in Ridgeland, winning all four of their matches in flight play before squaring off against the Porter-Gulf Coast team.

Fury’s squad won both of its singles matches but fell in all three doubles matches to finish as runners-up in 3.0. But since top-two finishers will head to sectionals in July, Fury said it wasn’t a total loss for her squad.

“We knew we had to make it in the top two,” Fury said. “It was bittersweet, but we knew we’d be going to sectionals. We did our best, and we were proud of ourselves.”

The squad includes Fury, Adele and Emily Hazlip, Kay Ketchings, Corinne Hegwood, Casey Morris, Bridget Milliken, Sarah Russ and Whitney Bradford. All but one of the championship matches ended in a tiebreaker, and Fury said her squad had to fight through the elements this past Sunday.

“It started raining, and they moved us twice because of the rain,” she said. “We didn’t walk out of there until after 6 p.m.”

The state runners-up finish was a nice addition to an otherwise strong year so far for Fury and a few of the other ladies. Fury, Ketchings and Adele and Emily Hazlip won the south state women’s 2.5 singles championship this past February.

“After we finished combo play, me, Kay and Adele said, ‘Let’s play singles for fun,’” Fury said. “We invited Adele’s daughter, Emily, and we kept winning, so we got to state and won. It was kind of funny, because we’re not singles players.”

With the team of eight now moving on to Lexington, S.C., for sectionals, Fury said being down to eight players might make things a little bit difficult for her squad.

“If we have more than one match a day it will be tough, because I won’t be able to change the lineup too much, and we’ll be spread pretty thin,” Fury said.

But Fury insisted her team would be fine, complimenting her teammates on their tenacity on the court.

“They’re a very determined group of ladies,” Fury said. “They’re tough-willed — they don’t want to lose.”

Which is a little intimidating for Fury, since she’s a 2.5 player on a team full of 3.0 players.

“I’m the baby,” she said. “But there’s fun in it.”