BURLINGTON – The North Carolina High School Athletic Association conducted the Men’s Dual Team Tennis Championships at the Burlington Tennis Center on Saturday. The Elkin Buckin’ Elks won the 1A title, the Pine Lake Prep Pride won the 2A title, the Hickory Red Tornadoes won the 3A title and the Green Hope Falcons won the 4A title.
See recaps below.
Elkin wins ninth NCHSAA Men’s Tennis title; first since 2013
Elkin and Head Coach Junio Luffman completed their perfect 20-0 season on Saturday without dropping a match in the 2023 1A Men’s Tennis Dual Team State Championship. The Elks beat East Regional Champion Riverside (Martin) 5-0.
The Buckin’ Elks lost just nine games in the championship match. Owen Jennings beat Alex Jennings 6-0, 6-1. Connor Ballard beat Seth Camacho 6-1, 6-1. Aiden Ballard won his match against Krishiv Patel 6-2, 6-0, Luck McComb beat Krishan Patel 6-1, 6-0 and Cole Macemore beat Bradley Reason 6-3, 6-0. Jeremy Zumudio and Allen Vasquez did not finish their match because Elkin had already clinched the victory.
The loss was the first of the season for Riverside as they wrapped up 2023 at 17-1.
Pine Lake Prep earns first 2A Men’s Tennis Dual Team title
In 2021, Raleigh Carter and Pine Lake Prep shared the NCHSAA 1A Men’s Dual Team Tennis Title as COVID-19 restrictions got in the way. On Saturday, they met on the courts in Burlington to decide the 2023 2A Championship and Pine Lake Prep topped Raleigh Charter 6-3.
The Pride led 4-2 after singles play thanks to wins by #1 Jackson Grathwohl, #3 Heath Fry, #5 Gavin Nazir and #6 Matthew Morgan in a tiebreak. For the Phoenix, #2 Lex Gu and #4 Joshua Lee won their singles matches.
In doubles play, Pine Lake Prep’s #1 team of Grathwohl and Morgan won 8-3 and #3 team of Fry and Alex Slehi won 6-3 to seal the win.
The Pride finished their season at 18-3 and the Phoenix wrapped up 2023 at 17-3.
Hickory Red Tornadoes claims fourth NCHSAA Men’s Tennis crown
The Hickory Red Tornadoes edged the Carrboro Jaguars 5-4 to capture the 2023 NCHSAA 3A Men’s Dual Team Tennis crown on Saturday.
Hickory was a Co-Champion in 2021 thanks to COVID-19 restrictions and they won their first outright title since 2006 on Saturday in Burlington.
The Red Tornadoes and Jaguars split the singles matches 3-3 but the #1 match proved to be a critical point. Both sets went to a tiebreaker as Carrboro’s Johnathan Baddour and Hickory’s Griffin Lovern each won one. Lovern won the tiebreak 10-8 to send the match to doubles play tied at 3-3.
In the doubles matches, Lovern and Graham Powers won their match 8-2 and Clint Powers teamed with Ben Howard to win their match 8-6 and seal the win.
Green Hope Falcons take home 4A title
Both the Green Hope Falcons and the Providence Panthers came into the NCHSAA 4A Men’s Dual Team Tennis Championship with unblemished records. The Falcons completed their perfect season and left with the trophy after a 5-1 win.
Green Hope #1 Aiden Xu won his match against Daniel Rohlman 6-3, 6-3 and Green Hope #2 Stephen Gervase beat Grant Patridge 6-4, 6-4. Providence’s #3 Toby Stamps earned his team’s only point with a win against Vivek Indlamuri in a tiebreaker.
Falcon #4 Brij Bhatt beat Collin Cushman in a tiebreaker, #5 Neal Varadan beat Robert Garand 6-3, 6-0 and #6 Medeshan Muruganandam topped Dennis Kreikenbohm 6-2, 6-4.
Providence finished the season 16-1 and Green Hope went 21-0 and earned their second NCHSAA Men’s Dual Team Tennis title.
