NCHSAA TENNIS ROUNDUP: Demons, Warriors advance to set up 3rd meeting

After two attempts at handing Fike High its first loss of the girls tennis season, Hunt will get a third chance after the Golden Demons and Warriors both won their first-round matches in the NCHSAA 3-A dual-team playoffs Monday, Oct. 21.

Fike, unbeaten in 19 matches and seeded first among 32 teams in the 3-A East, breezed past West Brunswick 8-1 while No. 16 Hunt whisked by No. 17 Swansboro 7-1 on the Warriors’ courts. That leaves the rivals staring at a third encounter this season in Wednesday’s second round at Fike.

Hunt (10-6) hasn’t beaten Fike in 10 years but the Warriors’ 6-3 loss at Fike on Oct. 2 was as close as anyone has come to beating the Demons this season. The Warriors, now 10-6, lost 8-1 at home to the Demons on Sept. 9.

Warriors waylay Pirates

The top three in the Hunt singles lineup were nearly perfect in sweeping their Swansboro foes as senior Nos. 1 and 2 Reagan Owens and Callie Mooring swept their foes and No. 3 Emma Reel topped Swanboro’s Maddie Owen 6-0, 6-1.

The Warriors, who finished third in the 3-A Quad County, split a pair of third sets at the bottom of the lineup. Ella Marks prevailed in her third-set tiebreaker against Pirates No. 5 Gabriella Palmer while Hunt’s Amy Hernandez lost hers to Ryleigh Cline at No. 6 for the only point for Swansboro (8-7), the No. 3 team from the 3-A Coastal Conference.

Owens-Mooring teamed for a quick 8-0 at No. 1 doubles while while Reel and Darby Davis won 8-4 at No. 2 before the match was called.

HUNT 7, SWANSBORO 1

Reagan Owens (H) def. Grace Jass 6-0, 6-0; Callie Mooring (H) def. Olivia Saari 6-0, 6-0; Emma Reel (H) def. Maddie Owen 6-0, 6-1; Darby Davis (H) def. Taylor Thompkins 6-2, 6-1; Ella Marks (H) def. Gabriella Palmer 2-6, 7-5 (11-9); Ryleigh Cline (S) def. Amy Hernandez 2-6, 7-5, (10-8).

Owens-Mooring (H) def. Jass-Saari 8-0; Reel-Davis (H) def. Thompkins-Cline 8-4.

Demons back to basics

After playing the Quad County and NCHSAA 3-A East Regional the last two weeks, Fike returned to dual-team play with a workmanlike victory over the Trojans (4-12) of the 3-A/4-A Mideastern Conference.

“This was our first team match in over two weeks, so I consider it to be a solid win to start the dual-team playoffs,” said Fike head coach Lee Matthews.

Fike’s only hiccup in singles was at No. 6 where freshman Kaitlyn Wilson suffered her first loss in five matches. Wilson was moved up to No. 6 with freshman No. 5 Kensley Hill playing for the Fike girls golf team at the NCHSAA 3-A East Regional match in Dunn.

Junior Emory Skinner won at No. 4 singles to raise her record to 18-0 while newly-minted 3-A East Regional doubles champion Holland Ellis-Kaden Biamby easily prevailed at No. 1.

Matthews and West Brunswick head coach Scott Mehalick are long-time acquaintances so the match felt more like an early season outing than a playoff confrontation.

“He wanted everyone that made the trip to play a match, so we played doubles and exhibitions,” Matthews said.

FIKE 8, WEST BRUNSWICK 1

Holland Ellis (F) d. Sydney Beliveau 6-0, 6-0; Kaden Biamby (F) def. Kimberly Bart 6-0, 6-1; Zoe Mitchell (F) def. Finn Gorritz 6-1, 6-0; Emory Skinner (F) def. Abi Davis 6-0, 6-4; Sarah Garrett Lamm (F) def. Hannah Underwood 6-0, 6-1; Phoebe Cumbee (WB) def. Kaitlyn Wilson 7-5, 6-2

Ellis-Biamby (F) def. Beliveau-Gorritz 8-0; Mitchell-Lamm (F) def. Bart-Underwood 8-0; Wilson-Anna Brooks Warenda (F) def. Davis-Cumbee 8-5.

Ladybirds stumble at West Carteret

MOREHEAD CITY — Junior Taryn Reams collected the only point for her Southern Nash girls tennis team in a 5-1 loss Monday at West Carteret in the first round of the NCHSAA 3-A dual-team playoffs.

Reams won her No. 6 singles match against Jovie Burdette 6-3, 6-1 but the Ladybirds of the 2-A/3-A Big East Conference couldn’t get another singles win and force doubles play. Instead, Southern Nash, the No. 27 seed in the 3-A East bracket, concludes 5-9 while the No. 6 Patriots, winners of the 3-A Coastal Conference will take a 12-2 mark into their second-round match against No. 11 C.B. Aycock, a winner over No. 22 Triton on Monday.

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