Notebook: Cardinal Gibbons, Carrboro win boys tennis showdowns

Cardinal Gibbons and Carrboro each snagged big nonconference boys’ tennis victories against some of the best teams in the state Tuesday.

Cardinal Gibbons, in its first year of 4A after ruling the 3A class, edged defending 1A champ Raleigh Charter 6-3 thanks to taking two of four third-set tiebreakers in singles.

Carrboro, the reigning 2A champ, took down 3A contender Union Pines 6-3 even without some of its best players. The Vikings’ top two seeds of Will Hart and Ben Williams accounted for all three points, winning at No. 1 singles and Nos. 1-2 doubles.

Also Tuesday, Panther Creek handed Green Hope a 6-3 defeat, the first time Green Hope has lost to a conference opponent since 2011 (58 consecutive matches), and first-year Research Triangle won its first match in program history 6-3 against Louisburg.

Bull City Cup: The Bull City Cup is underway with two girls’ soccer teams in action Friday when Kestrel Heights will visit Northern Durham as part of the second round. The third round will be March 18 and the finals April 28-29 at Durham County Stadium.

Voyager Academy, Hillside, Durham School of the Arts and Riverside also are participating.

Wake County does not have a county cup for girls’ soccer. Clayton won the Johnston County title this month.

The Brittany: Forty-nine games are slated for Friday and Saturday at The Brittany XII girls’ soccer showcase at Wilson’s J. Burt Gillette Complex. The biggest high school girls’ soccer tournament in North Carolina will features Cardinal Gibbons, Carrboro, Broughton, Millbrook, Pinecrest and more.

A full schedule of the games, which will be at 5:30 or 7:30 p.m. Friday or 9:30 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 1:50 p.m.a nd 4 p.m. Saturday, are at www.thebrittany.org/schedule.html.

Neuse Invitational: The Neuse Invitational, a boys’ golf tournament hosted by The Neuse Golf Club in Clayton, has an excellent field lined up for Friday.

Among the 22 teams are Pinecrest and Broughton – who have alternated the past four 4A titles – and other state powers like Green Hope, Leesville Road, Charlotte’s Myers Park and Winston-Salem’s R.J. Reynolds.

Panther Creek, South Johnston, Millbrook and D.H. Conley are will participate in the event, which will tee off at noon.

Princeton track meet: Princeton will host an NCRunners.com Eastern Tour track and field invitational Saturday with 23 teams including Apex, Cardinal Gibbons, Clayton, Cleveland, Franklinton, Leesville Road, Middle Creek, N.C. School of Science and Math, Rolesville and West Carteret.

NCISAA hall of fame: The N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association inducted its third hall of fame class last month. The inductees were Kathy Bailey, NCISAA business manager for more than 30 years; Benny Alexander, former Rocky Mount Academy athletics director; Doug Cobbs, former Ridgecroft School athletics director; Ben Crabtree, longtime Fayetteville Academy head of school.

The NCISAA also named the NCISAA 3A girls’ track and field trophy after Durham Academy coach Dennis Cullen.

Cap-8, SWAC golf: Leesville Road’s Joey Pettis and Broughton’s Jimbo Stanley tied for top honors in a Cap-8 4A meet Monday. In the Southwest Wake 4A, Green Hope has won all three league matches and is ahead of Panther Creek and Fuquay-Varina in the league standings.

Golf scores can be reported by emailing sports@newsobserver.com the team standings and top 10 golfers.

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 1:03 PM with the headline "Notebook: Cardinal Gibbons, Carrboro win boys tennis showdowns."