The state’s No. 1-ranked 1A tennis team opened conference play with a win over a fellow top-5 team.
Mount Airy defeated East Wilkes 8-1 to move to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Northwest 1A Conference. The Granite Bears won the NW1A Title with an undefeated record in 2021, and the Cardinals finished second at 10-2.
The Bears won the overall match before the completion of singles play, winning No. 1 singles as well as the No. 3-No. 6 spots.
No. 1 seed Carrie Marion and No. 4 seed Audrey Marion each posted double bagel wins in singles. Carrie topped East’s Hallie Younger 6-0, 6-0, and Audrey beat Emily Spicer by the same score on court four.
Mount Airy seniors Kancie Tate and Charlotte Hauser only combined to give up three games. Tate defeated Ava Darnell 6-2, 6-0 in No. 3 singles, and Hauser defeated No. 5 Valerie Schubart 6-1, 6-0.
Granite Bear freshman Audrey Brown wasn’t far behind on court six. Brown took the first set over Salem Sparks 6-1, then won the second set 6-3 to give Mount Airy its fifth win of the match.
Mount Airy’s Ella Brant and East Wilkes’ Savannah Sparks went to war in No. 2 singles. Savannah won the first set 7-6 after winning the set-tiebreaker 7-3, then Brant won the second set 6-4.
The third-set tiebreaker ends when a player reaches 10 points, but has to win by two points. The pair needed extra points to decide a winner, and one was finally named after hours of play. Savannah walked away with the victory thanks to a 13-11 win in the final tiebreaker.
Defending 1A Doubles State Champions Brant and Carrie Marion bounced back from their only doubles defeat of the season by topping Sparks and Darnell in the No. 1 spot.
The senior duo of Tate and Hauser took on Young and Spicer in No. 2 doubles and traded wins for the first 11 games. The Bears led 6-5 before winning back-to-back games.
The Audreys, Marion and Brown, swept East Wilkes’ Kelsea Absher and Kali Cook in No. 3 doubles to wrap up the 8-1 match win.
East Wilkes falls to 1-2 overall. The Cardinals other loss came against Bishop McGuinness, who is ranked No. 2 in 1A by the N.C. High School Tennis Coaches Association, by a score of 6-3.
Mount Airy takes a break from conference play by traveling to Central Davidson on Aug. 25, then hosts Forsyth Country Day on Aug. 29.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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