St. David’s wins fourth straight NCISAA 2A girls tennis title, defeats Cape Fear Academy
Brinkley Thompson’s singles match didn’t exactly start the way she wanted, but the finish was everything she and her St. David’s School teammates could ask for.
Thompson rallied from a set down at No. 4 singles, providing the title-clinching victory as the Warriors secured their fourth straight N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 2A girls tennis championship with a 5-2 victory over Wilmington’s Cape Fear Academy on Saturday at Barton College.
The St. David’s sophomore defeated P.J. Middleton, 3-6, 6-3, 10-2, finishing off the Warriors’ third straight state title-match defeat of the Hurricanes, albeit this one considerably more difficult than the previous two, including last year’s 5-0 victory.
“I got a little bit discouraged at the end of the first set and the beginning of the second set,” Thompson said. “I felt like I had to turn it around, because we were down a set on one of the courts and Lindsay (Munster) was going to be in a long match. I knew I had to do something about it.”
“It’s real exciting to finish it off, it’s cool.”
Top-seeded St. David’s, which advanced to the final with a 5-2 semifinal victory over Gaston Day on Friday, led 2-1 after doubles play as the No. 2 team of Thompson and Alice Holding and No. 3 team of Hannah Mallard and Gracie Crowder posted easy victories.
Holding put St. David’s ahead, 3-1, when she dispatched of Laila Goudarzi, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles, a key victory at the time as her sister Beatrice was down a set in her match and Munster was struggling early at No. 3 singles.
“Whenever someone around me is having a close match, it makes me want to play better and win faster so I can get up in the stands and cheer them on,” Alice Holding said with a chuckle.
Mallard gave St. David’s a 4-2 lead when she defeated Allison Graham, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 5 singles, and just minutes later Thompson provided the clinching victory.
“Cape Fear has a good, solid, strong team,” St. David’s coach Jennifer Crowder said. “Every match counted. It helped that we won two of the doubles, it took a little pressure off.
“The girls played well, they really wanted to get this. It feels good to have this done and have another one wrapped up and go home as the winners.”
Cape Fear had lost to St. David’s earlier in the season, a 6-3 setback on August 28. Hurricanes co-coach Cassie Causey believed that outcome may have had a bit of a psychological effect on her girls.
“I think (St. David’s) came out a little more confident (Saturday),” Causey said. “We knew we had to fight hard if we were going to get through it.”
Kerr-Vance second in 1A
In the NCISAA 1A championship, Wayne Country Day School captured its third consecutive title with a 5-1 victory over Kerr-Vance.
In a rematch of last year’s semifinal, in which Wayne Country prevailed 7-2, the Chargers won two of the three doubles matches before capturing the title with three straight singles wins.
Mary Mills and Holly Steg were the lone winners for Kerr-Vance, the pair teaming up to win their No. 2 doubles match.
This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 3:45 PM with the headline "St. David’s wins fourth straight NCISAA 2A girls tennis title, defeats Cape Fear Academy."