NCHSAA tennis: Pine Lake Prep wins first state title in 2A, Providence falls in 4A finals
Pine Lake Prep won its first NCHSAA 2A state dual team tennis championship Saturday.
Pine Lake Prep got a pair of key doubles wins to top Raleigh Charter 6-3.
These same two teams shared the 1A championship in 2021 as COVID-19 restrictions prevented a final from being played.
On Saturday, Pine Lake led 4-2 after singles play, getting wins from No. 1 Jackson Grathwohl, No. 3 Heath Fry, No. 5 Gavin Nazir and No. 6 Matthew Morgan.
Then Pine Lake’s No. 1 doubles team -- Grathwohl and Morgan -- won 8-3. Pine Lake’s No. 3 doubles team -- Fry and Alex Siehi -- won 6-3 to seal the title.
Pine Lake finished 18-3. Raleigh Charter was 17-3.
▪ In 4A, Providence’s unbeaten season came to an end in the finals.
The Panthers (16-1) lost 5-1 to Cary Green Hope (21-0).
Providence’s Toby Stamps earned his team’s only point, winning the No. 3 singles match in a tie break.
▪ Hickory beat Carrboro 5-4 in the 3A finals. Hickory was co-champs in 2021 when no final was played, but the Red Tornadoes won their first outright title since 2006.
The Red Tornadoes and Jaguars split the singles matches 3-3 but Hickory won two of three doubles matches to win.
▪ Elkin won the 1A state final, and finished a 20-0 season, beating 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.
- NCHSAA media reports contributed
