WILMINGTON — The 10th time was the charm.
After being a five-time runnerup, the Wilmington High School tennis team won the 10th Hurricane Invitational Saturday by the slimmest of margins over runnerup Georgetown on the WHS courts.
“After hosting 10 invitationals, we finally kept the champion’s trophy,” Wilmington head coach Doug Cooper said. “We always have a great field and players and coaches really enjoy it. One of our team goals was to win our invitational and the girls took great pride in making it happen.
“Georgetown had a very good showing, but our seniors were just too much for the rest of the field, except for Lilly Holland of Georgetown who was able to capture the second singles title.”
Cooper credited his veteran players for leading the way.
“My seniors are playing great tennis right now, as expected, but I’m also really proud of the younger players stepping up and getting better every time out. This is a very fun team to coach,” he said.
Layna Holmes at first singles, Reagan Henry at third singles, and the doubles pairing of Bailey Wheeler and Cary Holliday at first doubles were tournament champions.
Sofia Castillo was runnerup at second singles while Jenna Pletcher and Nyomi Blackburn were fifth at second doubles.
“Even with our second doubles team down one (Kiley Comberger) was sick, everyone did what they needed to do for us to hang on and win a thrilling tournament. It came to the last two matches on the court and our second dubs was able to hang on and win their final match, putting us over the top.”
SUMMARY
Aug 24, 2024
Hurricane Invitational
@WHS tennis courts
Teams
Wilmington 38, Georgetown 37, Cedarville 24, Harrison 23, Hillsboro 23, Brookville 19, Stivers 15, Bethel-Tate 4
Singles
1: Layna Holmes defeated Ortiz (Stivers) 8-0; defeated Wiesert (Cedarville) 8-2; defeated Gray (Georgetown) 8-5. Finished first
2: Sofia Castillo defeated Ryan (Stivers) 8-1; defeated Adams (Cedarville) injury default; was defeated by Holland (Georgetown) 1-8. Finished second.
3: Reagan Henry defeated Summers (Stivers) 8-1; defeated Sowers (Hillsboro) 8-5; defeated Preston (Georgetown) 8-1. Finished first
Doubles
1: Bailey Wheeler, Cary Holliday defeated Woods/Hendrix (Hillsboro) 8-0; defeated McKibben/O’Connor (Georgetown) 8-1. Finished first
2: Jenna Pletcher, Nyomi Blackburn were defeated by Reed/Vaughn (Cedarville) 3-8; won by forfeit; defeated Hall/Lopez (Stivers) 8-4. Finished fifth
