CHAPEL HILL – Championships in singles and doubles in four different classifications are up for grabs this weekend as the North Carolina High School Athletic Association holds its annual women’s tennis tournament championships at three different sites.
Semifinalists in both singles and doubles at the regional level qualify for the state championships.
The 4-A championships are scheduled for the Millbrook Exchange Park in Raleigh, while the 3-A event will be held at the Burlington Parks and Recreation Tennis Center. The 2-A and 1-A championships are both set for the Cary Tennis Center.
Action will get underway on Friday morning with the opening round of play at 9 a.m. Two rounds will be played on Friday, with the semifinals Saturday morning and the championship matches on Saturday afternoon. Since the field is smaller for the 1-A tournament, the only Saturday matches will be the championships Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
Defending 4-A singles champion Suzanne Boyden of Wakefield is back to defend her title, with the field including two players from Greensboro Page and two from New Hanover. The team of Sammi Smith and Jordan Strickland of Cary Panther Creek will be seeking their third consecutive doubles championship.
In 3-A action, Sarah Jiang of Concord Cox Mill, the singles runner-up for the past two years, is back in the championship draw. The 3-A doubles final a year ago featured two Cardinal Gibbons teams, with Devin Knors and Lizzie Galush defeating teammates Natalie Freeman and Summer Jacobs. Freeman and Jacobs have qualified, while Devin Knors will be teaming this time with her sister Jenna Knors.
Salisbury has two doubles teams in the 2-A championship draw, and pairs from that school have won four of the last seven doubles crown. Shelby’s Nancy Bridges is in the singles field after finishing second a year ago to Cassidy Shell of Bandys.
Lake Norman Charter and the North Carolina School of Science and Math have both placed two singles players and two doubles teams into the 2-A championships.
A doubles team from Misenheimer Gray Stone Day has won the last two 1-A championships, and Brooke Herlocker has been a part of both of those titles. This year she is teaming with Meghan Hedgepeth as the Gray Stone Day pair seeks the school’s third consecutive doubles title.
More tennis finals are scheduled for next week, as all four classes of the women’s dual team tennis championships will be November 1 at the Burlington Tennis Center.
NCHSAA FastFacts
Event: NCHSAA Women’s Tennis Tournament Championships
Date: October 24-25,2014
Site: 1-A: Cary Tennis Center; 2-A: Cary Tennis Center; 3-A: Burlington Parks and Recreation Tennis Center; 4-A: Millbrook Exchange Park, Raleigh
First Held: 1970
Qualifiers: Semifinalists in both singles and doubles at the regional level qualify for the state events
Of Interest: Laura Cowman of Charlotte Catholic (1989-92), Julianne Treme of Salisbury (1993-96), Jackie Houston of Kings Mountain (1993-96), Britney Cloer of Brevard and then West Henderson (2003-06) are all four-time NCHSAA women’s singles champions.