After narrowly missing a NCHSAA class 2A state championship last fall in girl’s tennis, Bartlett Yancey head coach Kin Watlington brings all but one player back from a squad that went 22-3 in 2017. The Bucs are optimistic that they can make another deep postseason run in the coming months. And if everything falls their way, they might even be able to bring a state championship to Yanceyville.
The season started off promisingly for the Bucs, as they dominated Cedar Ridge, 8-1, and Person County, 9-0, in a pair of road matches to start the season. And while the Bucs were stunned in a 5-4 home loss to Chatham Central on Wednesday for their first loss, the team is still holding out hope that big things are in store for it as the season wears on.
Against Cedar Ridge, only No. 1 singles player Norah Massey, a senior, suffered a loss. Massey was defeated by Cedar Ridge sophomore standout Ivy Garner, who last year qualified for the NCHSAA 3A individual state finals as a freshman. Garner defeated Massey, 8-2.
From there, it was all Bartlett Yancey.
Senior Kaleb Stephens rolled to an 8-1 victory in the singles No. 2 match, and junior Cameron Grace Brown picked up an 8-2 victory in the No. 3 singles match. Three straight games, in fact, would go to the Bucs by an 8-2 score, as Brown, her twin sister Carrie Anne Brown, and sophomore Sarah Kate Watlington, all defeated their opponents by that margin. In the No. 6 singles game, junior Sydnee Barton also won impressively, 8-1.
In the three doubles games, Norah Massey and Sarah Kate Watlington picked up an 8-2 triumph in the No. 1 game, while Cameron Grace Brown and Carrie Anne Brown won, 8-0, in the No. 2 doubles game. Kaleb Stephens and Sydnee Barton got an 8-1 victory in the No. 3 doubles showdown.
Over nine competitions – six singles and three doubles games – against Person County, BYHS won by a combined score of 72-8, claiming all nine games.
The Bucs picked up four consecutive 8-0 sweeps at singles No. 2 (Kaleb Stephens over Person’s Kenley Hazel), singles No. 3 (Carrie Ann Brown over Person’s Jazmin Ibarra), singles No. 4 (Sarah Kate Watlington over Magen Elliott), and singles No. 5 (Sydnee Barton over Grayson Cothran). No. 1 Norah Massey dominated in an 8-1 win over Person’s Olivia Kafer, while No. 6 Cassidy Millner defeated Person’s Delaine Phelps, 8-2.
In doubles competition, BYHS’s No. 1 unit of Massey and Watlington overwhelmed Person’s tandem of Olivia Kafer and Kenley Hazel, 8-1. Stephens and Carrie Anne Brown took down Jazmin Ibarra and Magen Elliott, 8-1 in the No. 2 doubles match, and Sydnee Barton and Sophia Bouchard finished things off by beating Person’s Grayson Cothran and Delaine Phelps, 8-3 in the No. 3 doubles game.
The Bucs looked like they were headed towards an easy victory against Chatham Central, as Massey claimed an 8-1 win over Taylor Hughes in the No. 1 singles game, and Stephens overwhelmed Cameron Hughes, also by an 8-1 count, in the No. 2 singles game.
Sarah Kate Watlington’s 8-4 triumph over Lauren Collins gave BYHS three points, but it wouldn’t be enough, as Chatham Central came charging back behind its back-end singles players, and its doubles teams.
In the No. 4 game, Lauren Oldham defeated Sydnee Barton, 8-6, which began the downward spiral for the Bucs. Cassidy Miller and Sophia Bouchard suffered tough 8-5 setbacks in the last two singles games, sending the match tied at 3-3 heading into the three doubles games.
Although The Bucs prevailed in the No.1 doubles game, as Massey and Watlington rolled to a 8-1 win over Taylor and Cameron Hughes, the Chatham Central No. 2 doubles tandem of Lauren Collins and Lauren Oldham, a pair of seniors, took down Stephens and Barton, 8-4. In the pivotal third doubles game, which ultimately decided the match, the Chatham Central duo of Sophie Phillips and Mary Grace Murchison were too much for BYHS’s Millner and Bouchard, beating them 8-3 to give the Bears the victory.
The Bucs shouldn’t let themselves get too disheartened coming off the Chatham Central loss. CCHS, after all, went 10-3 last season. The early setback should help motivate BYHS’s talented squad, knowing they have to show up every single time out to avoid getting beaten.
BYHS’s only two regular season losses last fall were to Mid-State Conference champion North Carolina School of Science and Math. But the Bucs stunned NCSSM, 5-4, in the third round of the NCHSAA state dual playoffs in late October. Following a shutout of First Flight in the state semifinals, the Bucs moved on to the championship round, where they finally met their match in a loss to state champion Salisbury High School for their 22-3 finish.
The only player gone from that team is Hannah Watlington, older sister of Sarah Kate Watlington and daughter of the BYHS head coach.
The Bucs will host NCSSM on Wednesday at home in Yanceyville, in a match that could once again play a key role in determining who ultimately wins the Mid-State Conference.
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