NCHSAA WOMEN’S DUAL TEAM TENNIS TITLE
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES SLATED FOR SATURDAY
BURLINGTON – The 18th annual North Carolina High School Athletic Association state championships in women’s dual team tennis will be contested on Saturday with four titles up for grabs at the Burlington Tennis Center.
The 3-A and 4-A finals will start at nine o’clock Saturday morning with the 3-A and 4-A matches starting at noon. All of the qualifiers won regional matches on Thursday to advance to the state finals, and there are four unbeaten teams among the eight finalists.
The 4-A match will feature three-time defending state champion Greensboro Page (19-0) going against East Chapel Hill (20-2). East knocked off perennial power Raleigh Broughton 5-1 in a Thursday regional final, which snaps an amazing string of consecutive trips to the state finals for Broughton at 12.
Broughton finished as runner-up to Page in each of the last three state championships, but had a string of six consecutive state titles from 1998 through 2003.
The top doubles teams from Page and East Chapel Hill met in the state doubles championship last weekend, with Jennifer Ansari and Jennifer Stone of Page downing Jennifer Huang and Tess Darling in straight sets.
Eastern Wayne (17-1) takes on Charlotte Catholic (19-5) for the 3-A championship. Eastern Wayne makes its first women’s dual team tennis finals appearance while Catholic won three out of four 2-A titles during a four-year stretch from 2001 to ’04 and has six dual team crowns overall, but hasn’t been in the finals since ‘04. Catholic eliminated defending 3-A champ Hickory 5-1 in the regional finals.
Julia Paulson and Sarah Trautmann of Catholic advanced to the state doubles semifinals last weekend before losing to the eventual state champions from Burlington Williams, Carolyn Kernodle and Adele Henderson.
In 2-A, Greene Central is back in the championship match for the ninth time in 10 years, although 2005 is the only state title during that span. Greene Central (22-2) battles defending state champion and unbeaten Salisbury (22-0) for the crown.
Puja Patel of Greene Central won the state 2-A singles championship last weekend while the Salisbury duo of Casey Collins and Susie Wear is the state doubles champion.
The 1-A championship pits two newcomers to the dual team finals, Durham’s North Carolina School of Science and Math (21-1) plays Kernersville Bishop McGuinness (18-0), after Bishop McGuinness eliminated defending state 1-A champ Jordan-Matthews in the regional finals.
Maggie Ronan of Bishop McGuinness made it to the state singles semifinals last weekend while Liana Roux and Amy Bahr of NCSSM earned the doubles title.
Wendy’s and the Carolina Ford Dealers are the presenting sponsors of the NCHSAA sports program.
NORTH CAROLINA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
18th Annual Women’s Dual Team Tennis Championships
Burlington Tennis Center, Burlington
Saturday’s Schedule
1-A championship: Durham North Carolina School of Science and Math (21-1) vs. Kernersville Bishop McGuinness (18-0), noon
2-A championship: Greene Central (22-2) vs. Salisbury (22-0), noon
3-A championship: Eastern Wayne (17-1) vs. Charlotte Catholic (19-5), 9 am
4-A championship: East Chapel Hill (20-2) vs. Greensboro Page (19-0), 9 am
