Matthew Gorry | The Yadkin Ripple
Starmount pair Heaven Walters (right) and Ashley Griffin (center) took home the silver medal in 2A doubles at the conference tournament. The duo is joined by coach Ryan Norman.
Matthew Gorry | The Yadkin Ripple
Forbush’s Deanna Wilkins captured the 2A singles silver medal at the Mountain Valley Conference tennis tournament.
ELKIN - Starmount and Forbush capped off their seasons with respective showings at the Mountain Valley Conference tennis tournament last week at Elkin Municipal Park.
On the 2A side of the tournament, Forbush’s Deanna Wilkins and Starmount duo Heaven Walters and Ashley Griffin powered their way to silver medals in their respective events.
In singles, Wilkins breezed past Wilkes Central’s Mary Hollis in the semifinals 6-1, 6-1 to punch her ticket to the championship bout. Another Eagle, Frankie McKinney, got all she could handle from Starmount’s Miracle Walters in the second semi before closing out the match in three sets 6-0, 4-6, 6-2.
McKinney battled past Wilkins in the finals 6-3, 6-3 to win gold.
In doubles, Heaven Walters and Griffin breezed past Ashe County’s Maggie Witherspoon and Halle Brown 6-1, 6-0 in the first semifinal. The Huskies’ second doubles pair of Anna Wooten and Haley Maloney topped Emily Faw and Lindsay Van Noy of Wilkes Central in the second semi to set up the championship match.
In the finals, Wooten and Maloney knocked off the Starmount duo to capture the gold 6-0, 6-3.
A bronze medal match was not played on the 2A side. And neither team received a berth into the upcoming 2A dual team state playoffs.
East Wilkes capped off an unbeaten run through the regular season with a gold medal sweep in 1A.
After completing a perfect 16-0 regular season, the Lady Cardinals captured four medals in the MVAC tournament, led by 1A singles champion Kelly Johnson.
Johnson breezed past Alleghany’s Molly Andrews 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals to punch her ticket in the finals. Elkin’s Payton Nicholson knocked off East’s Marygail Mahaffey in the second semi to set up the championship match.
During the regular season, Johnson got the best of Nicholson in both meetings, topping Elkin’s No. 1 7-6, 6-2 and 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 in two hard-fought matches.
In the finals, Johnson controlled the match from the start, capturing gold with a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
In the bronze medal match, Mahaffey rebounded and took third with a 6-4, 6-4 win to give the Cardinals two of the top three spots.
The 1A doubles championship match was an all-Cardinal event, featuring two East Wilkes pairs in Hannah Brown/ShaNisha White and Molly Callaway/Christy Carter.
Brown and White knocked off Haley Spurlin and Lydia Garcia from Alleghany 6-3, 6-1 in the first semifinal match to grab a spot in the finals, while Callaway and Carter topped Elkin’s Ally Gentry and Julie Neumark 6-1, 6-2 to set up the Cardinal showdown.
In the finals, Brown and White battled past their teammates to claim the gold 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a hard-fought match.
Spurlin and Garcia topped the Elkin pair 6-2, 6-2 to win the bronze medal.
Reach Matthew Gorry at 835-1513 or mgorry@heartlandpublications.com.
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