Panther Creek girls tennis bests Green Hope for 4A East final

Call it a girls team tennis final four or a double-header.

Either way Panther Creek, Green Hope, Cardinal Gibbons and East Chapel Hill met in the semifinals and finals of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A East Regional Thursday at the Cary Tennis Center. The semis were the completion of Wednesday’s suspended play due to rain.

Panther Creek (20-0), the two-time 4A defending state champions, defeated Cardinal Gibbons (23-2) in the afternoon semis 6-0 and Green Hope (20-3) in the evening final 5-0. The Falcons beat East Chapel Hill (13-5) in the semis 5-2.

Catamounts junior Aishani Tingare was the marathon woman. She won her suspended No. 5 singles in a third-set tiebreaker, 3-6, 6-2, 11-9. Later, her 6-0, 6-3 evening win was the clinching fifth team point 4 hours and 35 minutes after play began.

“There was a lot of supportive energy out here,” Tingare said. “It makes you proud to be a Catamount. Waiting wasn’t an issue.”

Here are the Thursday results by the clock:

3:15: Panther Creek freshman Melody Zhang closed out her suspended No. 6 singles 6-2, 6-0 for the clinching fifth team point. Tingare’s win moments later made the official team score 6-0.

4:30: East Chapel Hill resumed its semi with Green Hope and scored two team points in suspended matches. ECH senior Joceylyn Reckford won at No. 4 and senior teammate Madison Lewis at No. 6. The 4-2 team score by 5 p.m. forced the regional semifinal into doubles competition.

5:20: Doubles began with East Chapel Hill threatening a remarkable comeback. Green Hope’s No. 1 doubles team of senior Karena Zhang and senior Sara Ackerson needed 65 minutes to edge Wildcats sophomore Victoria Jones and Iskra Joksimovic 10-8 for the clinching fifth team point at 6:25. The other doubles matches were halted; East Chapel Hill led No. 2 by 7-4 and Green Hope led No. 3 by 5-4.

6:45: The final began with Panther Creek’s senior No. 1 singles Sammi Smith and senior No. 2 Jordan Strickland both claiming 6-0, 6-1 victories by 7:30.

Shortly thereafter junior No. 4 Amanda Cyr (6-0, 6-1) and Zhang (6-1, 6-0) won for a 4-0 team lead. Finally, Tingare clinched the 5-0 victory.

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 10:15 PM with the headline "Panther Creek girls tennis bests Green Hope for 4A East final."