Surry Central remains unbeaten with wins over North Surry, East Surry

Surry Central is off to a 3-0 start after posting a trio of lopsided victories against Foothills 2A Conference opponents.

Central recorded back-to-back wins over North Surry and East Surry in the span of three days — both on the road. The Eagles first topped the Greyhounds 8-1 on Aug. 20, then traveled to Pilot Mountain to beat the Cardinals 9-0 on Aug. 22.

Central, East and North are all coming off successful 2023 seasons in which all three made the dual team state playoffs. The three teams also split each of their regular season meetings against the others. Forbush won the 2023 FH2A Championship while the three Surry County teams shared second place.

All three schools graduated multiple starters from a year ago while also returning key players. Surry Central was the only school to return its top seeded player — or players since McKenna Merritt and Priscilla Gentry split duties at the No. 1 singles spot in 2023. The Golden Eagles also brought back a few former starters that missed stretches of this past season.

Central hopes to have found the perfect recipe for success that will lead them to the program’s first conference title since 2018.

The Golden Eagles are off to the program’s first 3-0 start since 2021. All three matches against FH2A opponents were decided by considerable margins. In addition to the 8-1 win over North Surry and the 9-0 win vs. East, Surry Central opened the season by sweeping North Wilkes 9-0. Surry Central is the only FH2A team still unbeaten in conference play.

All three teams will return to the courts on Aug. 27: Surry Central will host a double header against West Wilkes, North Surry will host Wilkes Central, and East Surry will go on the road to face North Wilkes. East Surry’s match against North Wilkes will be held at East Wilkes High School.

Aug. 20: Greyhounds vs. Eagles

Bad weather forced North Surry to postpone its season opening match against West Stokes, meaning the Aug. 20 match vs. Surry Central would be the team’s first competition of the 2024 season.

Central’s Merritt topped North’s Clara Burke 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles match. Merritt won both meetings against Burke in 2023 when both competed at the No. 2 spot.

Gentry and North’s Sparrow Krantz went down to the wire in the No. 2 singles match. Gentry took the first set 6-3 before Krantz battled back to win the second set 6-4. Gentry outlasted her opponent in the third-set tiebreaker 10-5 to capture the match for the visitors.

The Eagles’ Emmerson Martin returned to the starting lineup after missing most of the 2023 season with an injury. Martin is 3-0 on the season at the No. 3 spot, including a 6-0, 6-0 win over North Surry’s Abbie Johnston.

Emma Bryant picked up Central’s fourth win by defeating Brianna Baker 6-1, 6-2 in No. 4 singles, and Madelyn Wilmoth had Central’s final singles win by topping Caden Ward 6-1, 6-4 on court six.

North’s Rose O’Reilly is the only player to win a match against Surry Central so far this season. O’Reilly topped fellow sophomore Grace Southard 7-5, 6-1 in No. 5 singles.

Burke/Baker took an early lead against Merritt/Gentry in No. 1 doubles before the Eagles stormed ahead to a big lead. The Greyhounds made a late push in the match, but only won four games before Central finished them off.

Southard/Wilmoth also won their match 8-4, doing so in No. 3 doubles against Johnston/Ward. Central’s Martin/Bryant rounded out the overall win by defeating Krantz/O’Reilly 8-2 in No. 2 doubles.

Following their loss to Central, North went on to defeat West Stokes 5-4 on Aug. 22. The following Greyhounds picked up individual victories against the Wildcats: Burke, Krantz, O’Reilly and Ward in singles, and Burke/Baker in doubles.

Aug. 22: Cardinals vs. Golden Eagles.

Surry Central and East Surry both entered Thursday’s conference match unbeaten in league play.

East Surry started the season with a 7-2 nonconference loss to North Stokes on Aug. 14. East then took down defending FH2A Champion Forbush 8-1 on Aug. 15 before winning both matches of a double header against West Wilkes 7-2 on Aug. 20.

East Surry lost two of its top three seeds from 2023. Taylor Bullington and Mallory Estrada, both multi-year starters, took control of the top two spots this season.

Merritt took down Bullington 6-2, 6-1 in No. 1 singles, and Gentry topped Estrada 6-2, 6-0 on court two.

East’s Celia Robertson jumped to East’s No. 3 singles spot after splitting time at No. 5 and No. 6 in 2023. Martin defeated Robertson 6-2, 6-1 to extend Central’s advantage to 3-0.

Bryant, a junior, and Voss, a sophomore, competed in the only match that didn’t feature at least one senior. The pair competed in the longest singles bout of the afternoon, with Bryant outlasting Voss to win 6-3, 6-4.

Southard won a tight first set against East’s Coraleigh Wells 6-4 at No. 5 singles before sweeping the second set. Wilmoth nearly had the opposite in No. 6 singles as she topped Audrey Hiatt 6-1 in the opening set and 6-4 in the second.

Merritt/Gentry improved to 3-0 as a doubles team by defeating Bullington/Estrada 8-0 in No. 1 doubles. Bryant/Martin beat Robertson/Voss 8-1 in No. 2 doubles, and Southard/Wilmoth topped off the overall victory by defeating Wells/Hiatt in No. 3 doubles.