With tiebreakers playing a big part in the outcome, the Vikings claimed a hard-fought 6-3 win over the visitors.
“We went toe-to-toe,” said Viking coach John Frye. “It was a tough, tough match. It was a brawl, and I use that word in quotation marks. It was a very tense encounter between two very good teams. The tiebreakers show just how close the match was.”
In the six singles, three were decided by tiebreakers, with Vikings’ Stampley Walden winning 3-6, 6-4, (7-2) at No. 3 and Will Fondrie winning 4-6, 6-1 (11-9) at No. 5. In the No. 1 singles, the Warriors’ Charley Whiteley outlasted Walker Buchan 5-7, 6-1 (11-9).
With Gary Garner winning at No. 4 and John Hipp taking the No. 6 singles, the Vikings had a 4-2 lead entering doubles play.
In high school tennis, if two players are tied at one set apiece, the match is decided by a third-set seven-point tiebreaker. Frye, who has been coaching high school tennis for 35 years, pointed out that tiebreakers are a tough way to end a match where players have split sets.
“This is no criticism of the state playoffs,” Frye said, “but it’s hard to end a match with just a few points. Two players have battled each other, split sets, and then it comes down to a couple of points.
“But that’s the way it’s decided, and it was huge that we won two out of three in the singles. It also shows just how closely contested the matches were. In the Fondrie and Buchan match, those guys had built a full head of steam. The matches just got better as they moved along. Those guys weren’t pushing it back and forth, they were hitting the ball.”
With the 4-2 lead, the Vikings only needed to win one of the doubles matches to advance to the second round, where they will face Southern Alamance in a home match on Tuesday.
And the 10-game set doubles’ competition provided as much spice as the singles. Walden and Garner, playing at No. 3, finished first, losing to Eric Drab and Jarred Bryant by a 10-5 score.
When that match finished, and Western Alamance had closed to 4-3 in the overall match, the Vikings were trailing at No. 1 doubles by a 6-5 score, while leading at No. 2 by the identical 6-5 mark.
Sam Stalls and Buchan, the Vikings’ top team, turned on the burners, forging ahead 9-7 and were serving to win the set. But Western Alamance’s Whiteley and Chris Sparks broke the Viking duo, closing to 9-8 and holding serve.
But Stalls and Buchan returned the favor, breaking the Western Alamance duo to take the 10-8 win, sealing the team victory in the process. Seconds later, the Viking pair of Fondrie and Dillon Rice finished off the No. 2 doubles match with a 10-5 win.
Before taking on Southern Alamance next Tuesday, the Vikings have a little individual action to take care of this Saturday. The Mideast Regional individual competition is being held at Union Pines and New Century schools today and Saturday. The Vikings have seven individuals entered.
Competing in the doubles will be the teams of Buchan-Stalls, Fondrie-Rice and Jake Waits-Josh Bryant. Representing the Vikings in the singles competition will be Stampley Walden.
The four semifinals matches (doubles, singles) are scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Union Pines High School.
“There will be some good tennis going on,” Frye said. “We’re just excited to have seven guys still playing.”
