East Chapel Hill knocks West Johnston girls tennis out of the playoffs
East Chapel Hill reached the third round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s girls 4A dual-team tennis playoffs with a 6-0 win at West Johnston on Tuesday.
The Wildcats (14-2) will visit PAC-6 rival Cardinal Gibbons, a 5-1 winner over Leesville Road Tuesday, in the third round.
The Crusaders are the only team to beat East Chapel Hill this season, winning 7-2 on Sept. 8 and 8-1 on Oct. 3.
“I got to meet a nice coach today,” East Chapel Hill coach Nicky Walker said of his counterpart, Amanda Fisher. “She does a good job with her program. We come from different ends of it, but my kids enjoy coming to different places. It’s more than just the tennis.”
He continued: “We got a good draw, we’re on to the third round and we’ll play Cardinal Gibbons. We’ve already played them twice. We played them long, but they’re a tough team. We just take it one match at a time.”
East Chapel Hill swept through the singles matches with Savannah Bright, Victoria Jones, Isabel Green, Sarah McClanahan, Aneesha Manocha and Gabby Dimonte picking up victories.
West Johnston (15-4) reached the second round of the playoffs for the first time in school history, and Fisher was quick to praise the work her players have put in this season.
“I’m very proud of this team,” Fisher said. “We had two close matches with Rolesville to secure the second spot in our conference. The girls put a lot of effort into practice, and this year, the girls were ready to play hard. We’re were trying to play up to Clayton’s level, and trying to make it to the second round of dual-team, and that’s what we did.”
Carmen Juarez, a senior and four-year member of West Johnston’s team, agreed with her coach.
“It’s been awesome,”she said. “It was a great experience working as the team, and I’m happy we got so far. When I was a freshman, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was just trying my best to hit the ball over the net. We all got to bond and we were all learning, and we’ve come a really long way.”
East Chapel Hill 6, West Johnston 0
Singles
1. Savannah Bright (ECH) def. Jessica Reese 6-0, 6-0.
2. Victoria Jones (ECH) def. Carmen Juarez 6-0, 6-0.
3. Isabel Green (ECH) def. Carrington Mack 6-0, 6-0.
4. Sarah McClanahan (ECH) def. Sabrina Fink 6-0, 6-0.
5. Aneesha Manocha (ECH) def. Ariel Andrews 6-1, 6-1.
6. Gabby Dimonte (ECH) def. Blair Wright 6-0, 6-0.
Records: East Chapel Hill 14-2, West Johnston 15-4
This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 10:22 AM with the headline "East Chapel Hill knocks West Johnston girls tennis out of the playoffs."