North Johnston boys tennis downs Washington in second round

North Johnston won five out of six singles matches to cruise past Washington, 5-1, in the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 2A boys tennis playoffs Tuesday afternoon.

With the win, the fourth-seeded Panthers (17-1) will advance to host either No. 7 Clinton or No. 15 Greene Central in the third round on Monday.

Washington finishes the season at 13-4, with three of those losses coming at the hands of its Eastern Plains 2A rival.

“I was a little worried about today, because when you beat somebody twice, that third time’s always hard,” North Johnston coach David Anderson said. “We kept emphasizing all week, ‘make sure you come in like it’s the first time. Like it’s the championship game.’ And we had to, because they’ve got a great team.”

North Johnston, on the back of 6-3 and 9-0 wins against the Pam Pack earlier this season, made short work of them again.

Ian Walston, the recently crowned 2A East Region Individual Singles champion, claimed a 6-0, 6-0 win against Greyson Schmitt in the No. 3 singles match. His teammate, Michael Barnes, also won by the same score against Courtland Whitley.

Jonathan Gonzalez, Trey Motley and Jeremiah Coley collected singles wins for the Wildcats, while Washington’s No. 1 seed, Zack Pagnani, earned a 1-6, 6-2, 10-7 win against Tyler Jackson.

This story was originally published May 9, 2017 at 10:42 PM with the headline "North Johnston boys tennis downs Washington in second round."