The Avery Lady Vikings traveled to Mount Airy on Wednesday afternoon for a NCHSAA second round dual tennis match against the Lady Bears of Mount Airy High School.
The Lady Bears proved that their #2 ranking and 16-1 overall record was no fluke, as they upended the Big Red by a 6-0 final match score to advance to the NCHSAA 1A western regional semifinals.
Mount Airy played sound tennis, handling everything that the Lady Vikings threw at them on the court. Avery's Anna Melton met a stiff challenge in Mount Airy #1 Jordan Jackson, as Jackson took a 6-0, 6-1 victory. Senior Hayden Blackburn ran into a buzzsaw of her own in Mount Airy's Ellie Case, who won by scores of 6-0, 6-0.
Lady Viking Leah Powell fared somewhat better in her match against Merry Kessler of Mount Airy, taking a game in each set before falling 6-1, 6-1. Avery senior Lauren Avery put up a tough fight in her match against Elizabeth Dinkins, falling 6-1 in the first set. Lauren drew as close as 3-4 in the second set, but Dinkins won the final two games to take the straight set win.
Avery teammates Morgan Stout and Haley Shell competed hard in their singles matches, but fell by identical 6-0, 6-0 scores, respectively to Mount Airy players Jordan Gwyn and Alex Rigney.
Anna Melton will wrap up her senior season with the Lady Vikings tennis squad this weekend when she travels to Cary for the NCHSAA state tennis championships.
