Men’s Tennis: Cedar Ridge 6, Western Alamance 3 With three conference dual matches remaining, the Cedar Ridge men’s tennis team is still atop the Central Carolina Conference with a 7-0 record. On Monday, the Red Wolves defeated Western Alamance in Elon to complete a season sweep of the Warriors.
Cedar Ridge junior Josh Mayhew remained undefeated on the year with a 6-0, 6-0 victory at #1 singles. Mayhew, who became the first Cedar Ridge player to reach the 3A State Championship match last season, is 9-0 this spring. At #1 doubles, Mayhew teamed with sophomore Lev Bearman to win 8-2, which ensured a Red Wolf team victory.
Cedar Ridge won four singles matches to take a 4-2 lead going into doubles action. Sophomore Holden Rachlin defeated Jacob Howell 6-2, 6-2. Rachlin improved to 8-2 in his first season at varsity. At #5, junior Seth Upchurch prevailed 6-4, 6-2 for his fourth singles win of the season. Senior Derrick Stephens earned a 6-4, 6-4 win over Western Alamance’s Evan Gwin.
The Red Wolves’ (7-3 overall, 7-0 in the CCC) match against Northwood, which was rained out on March 24, was in the process of being resumed on Tuesday in Hillsborough before it was interrupted by rain. The Red Wolves also have two matches against Walter Williams still on its slate. One is a regularly scheduled match set for Wednesday in Hillsborough. The other is a make-up trip to Burlington for a date that was rained out on March 16. If the Red Wolves win two of its final three conference matches, they will clinch at least a tie for the conference championship.
Orange 5, Williams 4: The Orange men’s tennis team went into spring break on a four-match winning streak. On March 24, the Panthers defeated the Bulldogs in its most dramatic win of the season. The doubles team of Justin Conover and Porter Pelphrey trailed the #1 team from Williams 7-4, but rallied to win the final five games and captured the match 9-7, which ensured an Orange victory over the Bulldogs.
The Panthers and the Bulldogs split the six singles matches. Orange freshman Cameron Foster had the longest match of the day against Williams’ Nathan Amyot, which went to a third seed. Foster won the tiebreaker, and the match, 11-9 after winning the opening set 6-3. Amyot took the second set 6-1.
Orange junior Tristan Plummer won at #5 singles 6-0, 6-1. At #6 singles, Orange’s Brendan Kassler won when he opponent didn’t finish the match.
Northwood 5, Orange 4: The Chargers, who are currently second in the CCC, held off Orange in Hillsborough on Monday. Three of the singles matches went to tiebreakers, including the opening match where Conover defeated Northwood’s Jio Sumogod 7-5, 7-6 (12-10). It was Conover’s ninth overall win of the season. Orange junior Nathan Pavalonis won in three sets at #4 singles against Mason Erman. Pavalonis won 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.
Orange’s doubles team of Tristan Plummer and Tate Clark won at #2 8-6. Conover teamed with Pelphrey to win at #1 doubles 8-6.
Golf: The fourth Central Carolina Conference men’s golf match of the season was held at the Preserve Golf Course in Pittsboro on Monday. Orange finished fourth in the team standings. Junior Thomas Loch and senior Jacob Thompson, each of whom just finished basketball season for Orange, had identical 44 scores for the Panthers. Josh Roberts and Ryder Lee each carded a 48 for Orange. Brad Marochak and Cooper Zinn also competed for Orange.
Cedar Ridge came in tie for fifth in the team standings, matching Eastern Alamance with 190 team strokes. Ward Mann was the top Red Wolf on the day, finishing with a 46. Rowan Parker carded a 47 for Cedar Ridge, while Bradley Monschein, who qualified for the 3A Central Regional last year, had a 48.
Western Alamance had the top team score.
Two matches have already been held this season at Occoneechee Golf Club in Hillsborough. Loch led Orange in the opening two rounds. He shot a season-best 40 during a match on March 24. Thompson had a 44.