Local players to appear in regional tennis tournaments

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association will hold its individual regional tennis tournaments this weekend (May 3-4) at various locations.

The Class 2A Mideast Regional will be held at Heritage High School in Wake Forest beginning at 3 p.m. today. Representing the Big East 2A/3A Conference will be Marquel Warren of Nash Central, who captured the league’s 2A singles title over Bunn’s Elias Brown as well as the overall title over Northern Nash’s Bryce Pittman last week.

The Class 3A Mideast Regional will be held at the Burlington Tennis Center beginning at 1 p.m. Representing the Big East 2A/3A Conference will be Bryce Pittman (Northern Nash) in singles and the Southern Nash doubles team of Frank Gonzalez/Alex Underwood, the Rocky Mount doubles team of Noah Seale and Juan Gavira and the Northern Nash doubles team of Christian Lee and Ethan Price.

Gonzalez/Underwood won the conference’s 3A doubles title over Seale and Gavira, and the overall doubles title by besting the Roanoke Rapids’ duo of Avery Garner and Talan Harris during last week’s league tournament.

Lee and Price finished third overall in the 3A bracket of the conference tournament.

Other representatives from the Big East 2A/3A Conference in regional play this weekend include Kai Williams of Franklinton (3A singles), Bunn’s Jersain Araujo (2A singles), Grant Hedrick of Franklinton (3A singles), Bunn’s doubles duo of Noah Reed and Tucker Mitchell (2A doubles) and the Roanoke Rapids team of Musa Gwanzura and Jack Moore (2A doubles).

DUAL TEAM

Harnett Central 5, Northern Nash 2

Northern Nash’s boys tennis team had its dual season end with a 5-2 loss to Harnett Central in the first round of the Class 3A Dual Team Playoffs on Wednesday in Angier.

The Knights finished 8-5 overall as the No. 17 seed. Harnett Central, the No. 16 seed, advances to the second round where it will play at No. 1 seed Southern Nash on May 6.

The singles matches were competitive, with Northern winning at No. 2 (Janzen Haynes 6-4, 6-2 over Tyler Greger) and No. 5 singles (Oscar Ramirez 5-0, default) over Brayden Nelson and the Trojans taking victories at No. 1 (Taylor Davenport edging Brice Pittman 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; Landis Miller defeating Christian Lee 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3 and Grayson Lloyd beating Alan Zhuang 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4.

Harnett Central (11-4 overall) captured the match with “walkover” wins at No. 6 singles (Alex Nesbit) and No. 3 doubles (Nelson and Nesbit).

Southern Nash def. South Brunswick

The Southern Nash boys tennis team defeated South Brunswick at home on Wednesday in the first round of the Class 3A Dual Team Playoffs in Bailey.

The Firebirds, the No. 1 seed, improved to 13-0 and will host No. 16 seed Harnett Central (11-4) in the second round.