KERNERSVILLE — Bishop McGuinness took care of business and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
The third-seeded Villains held a clear advantage, as their opponents were without their top two players, and dispatched 14th-seeded Christ the King 6-0 on a warm Wednesday afternoon at Civitan Park in the opening round of the NCHSAA 1A West girls tennis dual-team playoffs.
“It was a good start,” Bishop coach Larry Ingram said. “It’s good and bad — it’s good in the fact that we won; it’s bad in the fact we played a team that didn’t have all its top players here. Sometimes that can mess up your game because you’re playing against an easier opponent.
“But I told our girls, ‘You could face other girls like this. Not everyone is going to have six strong players.’ So, it was a good way to start. And it got them some warmups. I’ve got three players going to states Friday. So, it gave them competition for that. And it was a great day to play tennis.”
Lucia Neves, Kendall Herr, Adelaide Jernigan, Sarah Pulliam, Lily Winters and Anne Overman all convincingly won their singles matches against opponents playing up two spots. And the Villains (15-1) advanced to host sixth-seeded Gray Stone Day in the second round Monday.
“I think we played a really solid match today,” said Neves, a freshman who plays at No. 1. “It was kind of unfortunate they didn’t have their top players. But I definitely think today was the start of us working toward the state championship.
“The main focus is just to play how we want to play and play our game and not theirs. We stuck to that today and it was a good win. It’s definitely a step moving forward — I feel like our team’s a lot stronger this year.”
The competition will start to dial up in the coming rounds. The winner of Monday’s match will face either second-seeded Highland Tech or 10th-seeded East Wilkes. And top-seeded Mount Airy, three-time defending state champion, looms as the top seed on the other half of the West bracket.
So, it was key that Bishop remained sharp in an easier match — it only lost four games the entire day. Particularly as Neves in singles plus Herr and Jernigan in doubles will compete in the individual state championships. The 1A tournament will be Friday and Saturday in Cary.
“It’s really exciting,” Neves said. “Being a freshman, just the whole atmosphere on the team and getting up there to play higher levels, it’s just a really good experience.”
The Villains, who won state titles in 2014 and 2015, have been in the mix in recent years. They reached the regionals against Mount Airy in 2021 and 2022 but lost in the third round against Polk County last year. Their only blemish this season was a 5-4 loss against East Wilkes — a potential third-round opponent.
So, the goal is to continue making strides in the weeks ahead.
“We got a good a draw — I’m very pleased with our draw,” Ingram said. “There are some really good teams. Most of the teams we’ll play are really good at 1, 2 and 3 and then they drop off. I think we’re more solid than we were the last time we played (East Wilkes). But we’ve got to get there first.”
BISHOP McGUINNESS 6, CHRIST THE KING 0
Lucia Neves (BM) def. Ava Carvelli 6-0, 6-0; Kendall Herr (BM) def. Olivia Stern 6-2, 6-1; Adelaide Jernigan (BM) def. Audrey Balmaceda 6-0, 6-0; Sarah Pulliam (BM) def. Lucia Varricchio 6-0, 6-0; Lily Winters (BM) def. Erin Clark 6-0, 6-0; Anne Overman (BM) def. Natalya Gilson 6-1, 6-0
