The 2022 Cedar Ridge men’s tennis team won the Central Conference championship.
As great as they were, they didn’t win a match in the 3A State Playoffs, falling to Carrboro in the opening round.
But the Red Wolves of 2026 pulled off a State Playoff win in Rocky Mount on Monday night.
Junior Tyler Baker won a singles and a doubles match as the Red Wolves, seeded #17, rallied to defeat Rocky Mount 5-4 in the opening round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 5A State Playoffs. The Red Wolves advance to face top-seeded Western Alamance in the second round.
It is Cedar Ridge’s 10th state playoff win in men’s tennis ever. In their last appearance in the 2023 3A State Playoffs, the Red Wolves lost in the opening round to Durham School of the Arts.
Sophomore Danny Dyreng, who is the younger brother of former Cedar Ridge regional championship runner Naomi Dyreng, claimed two wins in his first state playoff match. Dyreng defeated Seth Hall 6-0, 6-0. In the top doubles match, Dyreng and Grady Coleman defeated Merlin Gardin and Elijah Purdy 8-1.
Baker, who reached the state playoffs for the Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team last fall, won the #2 singles match over Gardin 6-3, 6-3. In the #2 doubles match, Baker and Oliver Rodgers defeated Hall and Jeremiah McClain 8-4, which turned out to clinch the match.
Rodgers won the #4 singles match for the Red Wolves, beating McClain 6-0, 6-3. The two teams split the six singles matches.
Rocky Mount, which ends the year 5-11, got a singles win from Elijah Purdy over Grady Coleman 6-1, 6-0. In the #5 singles match, Daniel George defeated Cole Wicker 6-2, 6-3. Nathan Mackey of the Gryphons defeated Henry Casey 6-0, 6-2.
George and Mackey won the final doubles match over Wicker and Casey 8-4.
Cedar Ridge improves to 5-10, having won four in a row.
