RALEIGH -- Chapel Hill's girls tennis team lost to Cardinal Gibbons twice during the regular season, but the Tigers came up big when it counted.
Chapel Hill got sweet revenge Tuesday, defeating the Crusaders in the NCHSAA 3-A tennis quarterfinals. The Tigers won four of five singles matches and the three doubles matches to advance to the state semifinals on Thursday to face either Rocky Mount (17-4) or Wilson Fike (19-3).
"I have a bunch of seniors and the girls really stepped up tonight," CHHS coach Nick Walker said. "Every court played well tonight. They didn't want to lose, but we knew Cardinal Gibbons was going to give us a tough match."
The Crusaders (22-5) entered the match ranked No. 2 in 3-A, the Tigers (15-5) No. 3. Cardinal Gibbons won 5-4 and 6-2 during the regular season.
But only the Crusaders' No. 1 singles player, Lauren Brooker, was able to pull out a win. CHHS' Hannah Kimbrough, Danielle Cohen, Kim Jones and Erin Strine all took straight-set wins.
"We knew they would be a good team and defensively it would be a battle," Cardinal Gibbons coach Andrew Tuttle said. "Both teams fought hard, but their seniors played tougher."
The Crusaders needed to win all three doubles matches to create a tiebreaker, but Chapel Hill had other plans.
Tori Helpingstine and Kimbrough defeated Brooker and Rachel Lynch 10-3, and Danielle Cohen and Kelsey Wayne defeated Margaret Whiteley and Megan Bok 10-1.
