Lady Villains seize state tennis title
The Bishop McGuinness girls tennis team came into Saturday’s Class 1-A state championship match with confidence, and it showed.
The Lady Villains closed out the match 6-0 in singles competition, and no doubles matches were needed against Roxboro Community School at the Burlington Tennis Center.
This was the third dual team state title for Bishop McGuinness.
Bishop McGuinness Head Coach Larry Ingram said he was pleased but not surprised.
“I did not want to be too overconfident going into the match. Our girls were just totally ready to make it happen. We had played and beaten both of their doubles teams. One of them was the top-ranked team in the East regional in the state doubles, and we beat them easily. Their No. 1 single player had a much lower USTA national ranking than ours (Lucia Neves),” Ingram said. “I am just so proud of the girls. They were a totally united group. I have never seen a more unified group in all my years of coaching. They welcomed in all the players and all the freshmen. They just really wanted it. Once they beat Mount Airy (the three-time defending champion) on Sept. 9, I could see it, although it took 102 days to get there. They all challenged each other to be better players, and you can’t ask for more than that as a coach.”
Lady Villains freshman Lucia Neves won just about every award one can this season in girls tennis.
“She won the conference player of the year and did not lose a match all season. She won the regionals and the state singles and was the team most valuable player in the dual teams. It is very impressive to do all of that as a freshman,” Ingram said.
Bishop’s Lily Winters, the No.5 seed, won the Sportsmanship Award for the state dual team tournament.
“Lily is a junior and she is just the nicest young lady. You can never tell if she is winning or losing. She has the same temperament,” Ingram said.
Singles results from the Lady Villains’ state championship win on Saturday are listed below:
Lucia Neves (B) d. Aurora Bettendorf (RC) 6-0, 6-0; Kendall Herr (B) d. Olivia Godard (RC) 6-2, 6-1; Adelaide Jernigan (B) d. Rachel Green (RC) 6-3, 6-2; Sarah Pulliam (B) d. Elizabeth Ess (RC) 6-0, 6-1; Lily Winters (B) d. Caroline Cates (RC) 6-2, 6-0; Anne Overman (B) d. Kirklyn Owen (RC) 6-3, 6-0.
