Hickory downs Cox for first region boys tennis championship

Boys tennis

Class 5 Region A

Hickory won its first boys tennis region championship Tuesday afternoon, defeating top-seeded Cox 5-3 on First Colonial High’s courts in Virginia Beach.

The second-seeded Hawks (18-1) gained a key victory when No. 4 player Spencer Dudley won 11-9 in a third-set match tiebreak. Hickory’s third doubles pair, Ethan Schneider and Graham Hollon, won the clinching match 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Both teams had clinched berths in the state tournament by reaching the final. Hickory will play a quarterfinal against Granby later this week, and Cox will take on Maury.

Class 5 Region B

Menchville’s Matthew Onoff repeated his region singles title, downing Maury’s John Felts 6-3, 6-3 at Huntington Park to return to the state semifinals June 7 on those same courts in Newport News.

Felts and Johnny March defeated Onoff and Owen Balingit 6-2, 6-4 in the doubles final, giving those two Commodores a semifinal spot June 6.

No. 1 Maury and No. 2 Granby captured region team honors last week and await state quarterfinals this weekend against Cox and Hickory, with the matchups to be determined.

Class 4 Region A

Keean Buirski overcame Jamestown teammate Charles Aractingi 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10-4) for the region singles title at Huntington Park, clinching a state semifinal berth June 7 on those same courts.

Buirski and Aractingi then defeated teammates Chrisn Parikh and Jack Gianoukos 6-1, 6-3 for the doubles crown and a state semifinal June 6.

The Eagles were first and Warhill was second in the recent team tournament.

Class 3 Region A

Grafton senior Rainer Christiansen and Lafayette’s Xavier Jones earned their way to Wednesday’s 9 a.m. final with vastly different victories at Huntington Park.

Christiansen cruised past New Kent’s Ethan Hanson 6-0, 6-1 and will aim for his fourth consecutive region singles crown — the first three were in Class 4, but the Clippers were sent down in the latest VHSL reorganization.

Jones outlasted Grafton’s John Lee in a 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 (10-6) thriller, but suffered body cramps afterward, forcing him to pull out of doubles competition.

After singles Wednesday, Christiansen and Lee will play for the doubles title against Tabb’s Nicolas Crespo and Neel Dharni. Both of those tandems easily won twice Tuesday.

No. 1 Grafton and No. 2 Lafayette will represent the region in state team competition. The Clippers will play host to Maggie Walker of Richmond on Friday, and the Rams will go to Meridian in Northern Virginia that day.

Class 2 Region A

Host Bruton breezed past Lancaster 5-0 in a region team semifinal, ensuring the Panthers will return to the Class 2 tourney. They were state runner-up the past two seasons, but now they have freshman No. 1 Christoph Schweitzer, who won the region singles and doubles titles last week alongside Max de Winter.

Tuesday against the Red Devils, de Winter, Simphiwe Matibini, Leon Strain, Talien Barnes and Nick Felsman won in singles, losing just a combined one game. Bruton will be at home at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the region final against the Southampton-Poquoson winner.

Girls tennis

Class 5 Region A

First Colonial won 5-3 at top-seeded Ocean Lakes in a semifinal, earning the Patriots a spot in the state quarterfinals and ending an excellent season by the Dolphins.

The fourth-seeded Patriots will play host to second-seeded Great Bridge in the title match at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Both teams then will advance to the state quarterfinals.

The Patriots avenged a 5-4 regular-season loss to Ocean Lakes. Julia Sugden’s drop volley provided a winning point as FC swept Nos. 2 and 3 doubles in straight sets.

Class 5 Region B

Menchville’s Tori Epps took her second consecutive region singles medal, defeating Granby freshman Ariana Pazos Delaguila 6-2, 6-1 at Huntington Park. Epps and Erin Pridgen then edged Pazos and Sahana Bhasin 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5) for the doubles championship.

Epps will join Pridgen for a doubles semifinal June 6 before her singles semifinal June 7.

No. 1 Maury and No. 2 Menchville gained the top team berths and await their semifinal opponents. The Commodores will face the First Colonial-Great Bridge loser, and the Monarchs will meet the FC-Great Bridge winner.

Class 4 Region A

Senior Julia Clark beat junior Scarlett Gamez 6-2, 6-1 in an all-Jamestown match for the region singles title at Huntington Park. Those two then joined forces for a 6-0, 6-1 victory in the doubles final over Smithfield’s Jocelyn Hill and Adrianna Melvin.

In the state tournament at Huntington Park, Clark and Gamez will play a doubles semifinal June 6, and Clark will be in a singles semifinal June 7.

No. 1 Jamestown and No. 2 Warhill gained the region’s team state spots. The Eagles will play host to Atlee in a quarterfinal, and Warhill will visit Courtland at 11 a.m. Friday.

Class 3 Region A

The singles final at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Huntington Park will be an all-York County affair of top-seeded Valentina Crespo of Tabb and No. 2 Michelle Cloud of Grafton. Crespo outplayed New Kent’s Gabriela Vincent 6-3, 6-1, and Cloud ousted Tabb’s Ella Rivera 6-2, 6-2.

The doubles final will follow singles, featuring Crespo and Rivera against Cloud and Erin Braganza.

New Kent won the region team title, while Grafton was second to grab the other state berth. On Friday in the quarterfinals, the Trojans will play host to James Monroe, while the Clippers face Maggie Walker at Battery Park in Richmond.