In Saturday’s NCHSAA 3A singles state championship final at Burlington Tennis Center, Terry Sanford’s Pauline Bui stumbled to a 3-6 first-set loss.
In the brightest spotlight, the sophomore faced a new challenge – trailing for the first time in the postseason. Bui had plowed through the first three rounds of the bracket while losing just five sets and winning 36.
It was new territory, but her focus was consistent.
“I told her, ‘Hey, we’re just going to play an extra set now,’ ” Bulldogs tennis coach Christopher Goodman said. “She believed it, and she went out and executed her game plan.”
Bui rallied for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Carrboro’s Ryan Hanes to win the singles crown, adding it to her doubles title from last season with Loren Galaviz and giving Terry Sanford an incredible 16 state championships in girls tennis (eight doubles, four singles, four dual-team titles).
A four-star prospect ranked No. 3 in the state by Tennis Recruiting Network, Bui smashes lasers an inch over the net with a consistency that seems almost mechanical; but smoother. Her skill set and game IQ are obvious, but Goodman sees something more important in the two-time state champ.
“Her strongest asset is how strong, mentally, she is,” he said. “In tennis, that’s what separates the good and great players.”
So when the time came for her to settle down against an opponent with the upper hand and deliver a performance worthy of the many hours she’d spent training, Bui had no problem.
“My mindset coming into the second set was to stay loose,” she said, adding that the mental side of the game is one of her favorite parts.
She and Galaviz have been playing together since first grade, and Wang has been training with them for the past few years. And while the individual titles are nice, they are all driven to bag a dual-team banner.
“That’s one of the biggest things I can say about those three: They are super-proud of winning their individual state championships, but their focus has always been on winning a team state championship,” Goodman said Monday as the Bulldogs defeated First Flight in a third-round dual-team match at the Gil Bowman Tennis Complex.
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If you have ever stepped foot on our campus then you know the amount of hours of time they put in on the courts to perfect their craft.
You are looking at a proud coach of the NCHSAA 3A Singles and Doubles State Champions.
These ladies epitomize “hard work pays off”#GDTBAD pic.twitter.com/GjQednF5qn
— Coach Goodman (@CoachCGoodman) October 26, 2024
Last year, the Bulldogs made it to the team final against Lake Norman and wound up on the losing end of a five-hour grudge match.
Entering doubles play tied at 3, Terry Sanford won the first match but then dropped the second, setting up a winner-take-all No. 3 matchup, and it was a marathon tied at 10 before a 7-3 tiebreaker set gave the title to Lake Norman.
“We were super close last year but this year I think we really can take it all the way,” Galaviz said.
The Bulldogs (12-1) are a No. 4 seed as the All American Conference champions and they’ll have to play Wednesday’s fourth-round match at No. 1 Wilson Fike.
While it’s hard to think of them as underdogs, the Bulldogs will take the same mentality on the road that’s served them so well throughout the season.
“You have to be able to focus,” Wang said, adding that being in the moment was more advantageous than physical strength. But she’s working on the strength part, too, just in case.
“She’s very strong,” Goodman said of Wang. “She loves to be in the weight room, she treats her body right, she eats right, things like that, and it shows on the court.
“She’s probably our most powerful player.”
Wang shares No. 1 doubles duty with team captain Galaviz, a leader for this young team with no seniors after losing five players to graduation this past spring – three of the top six in rotation. Her example has been invaluable as the Bulldogs lock in on the title they came so close to clinching last season.
“We had a full sweep at 3A this weekend and having another one under our belt would be so nice,” Bui said. “And it would be for everybody.”
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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Terry Sanford girls tennis state championships 2024 Pauline Bui
