NCHSAA 2A Tennis Regionals: Greene Central Wins Singles and Doubles, North Lenoir Advances to States
Information submitted by: Tim Medlin
On Saturday, May 4, the top high school tennis talent from all over eastern North Carolina gathered at the Greene Central Tennis Complex in Snow Hill to compete in the NCHSAA 2A East Regional Championships.
Local area schools, including Greene Central, Farmville Central, North Pitt, Martin County, and North Lenoir, along with other prestigious tennis programs across eastern North Carolina, sent the best 16 conference qualifiers in singles and doubles to compete for regional championships. The top four finishers would also earn a spot in next week's State Championships.
Coach Tim Medlin and the Greene Central Rams tennis program claimed top honors in the event, winning both the singles and doubles championships. In singles, senior William Drake (18-1) dominated the talented field without dropping a game. In the final, Drake (GC) defeated North Lenoir's previously unbeaten sophomore, Maddox Smith (17-1), 6-0, 6-0. Drake, who has now won three consecutive regional singles titles, advances to next week's State Championships, where he was a semi-finalist in each of the last two seasons. Both Smith and Drake advances to the state championships.
Coach Tim said, "William was on his game without blinking this weekend. None of the coaches can recall ever seeing a male or female player win a regional championship without dropping a single game before now." The powerful senior, set to continue his tennis career at Barton College next year, remains focused on the challenges ahead. Drake said, "We have a big dual team match on Monday, then I'll be working out to prepare for tough opponents next weekend at States."
In the third-place match, Mateo Olmo-Ramirez of Princeton defeated Trent Spear of Edenton Holmes 6-4, 1-0 (ret). Drake, Smith, Ramirez, and Spear will represent the NC East Region at the State Championships next Friday at Ting Park in Holly Springs, NC.
In doubles, Sam Avent and Nick Avent (16-2) repeated as East Regional Doubles Champions for Greene Central with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 nail-biter win over North Lenoir's Casey Alston and Austin Williams (18-3). The sophomore twin brothers had to rally from 1-4 down and 4-5 in the deciding set. Hawks Alston and Williams are still alive as they will get to compete at the state championships this upcoming weekend.
Coach Medlin said, "Our opponents were playing well, and it was important that we stay calm and play one point at a time today. In a match like this, if you lose your focus for just a couple of minutes, you might have lost the opportunity to win. We stayed the course."
In the third-place match, Ben Cuddington and Ethan Evans of North Johnston (13-4) defeated Cole Daugherty and Ayden Furlough of Edenton Holmes (8-3).
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