For the second straight year, a Franklin pair are 3A West Doubles Champions.
After wrapping up their second straight 14-0 regular season, on the week of Oct. 16 Franklin dove headfirst into the postseason, with Round 1 of the Dual Team State Playoffs and the 3A West Individual Tournament. In a 9-0 win over Central Cabarrus and a regional title for seniors Laura and Lydia Holland, Heather Bell’s team stayed alive in its quest for both dual team and individual state titles.
As the fourth-ranked team in the 3A West, on Oct. 18 Franklin kicked off the Dual Team state playoffs hosting No. 29 Central Cabarrus, who had just barely snuck into the tournament with a 7-9 record. In a match at the Macon County Rec Park, the Panthers outclassed the Vikings, losing no more than four games in any of their six singles matches.
At Nos. 1 and 2, juniors Kate Phillips and Abigail Angel both routed their opponents 6-1, 6-2, while junior Maci Stork won 6-0, 6-4 at No. 3. At No. 4, senior Laura Holland cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win, while seniors Logan Guynn and Lydia Holland lost just one game apiece at Nos. 5 and 6.
The doubles portion of the contest looked much like the singles, with Phillips/Angel and Stork/Guynn winning 8-2 at Nos. 1 and 2. In the No. 3 match, the Holland sisters blanked their opponents 8-0. In shutting out Central Cabarrus, Franklin advanced to the Dual Team Playoffs’ second round, where they met a familiar opponent in 13th-ranked West Henderson. The Press will report on that match’s results in next week’s edition.
On Saturday, Oct. 21, Franklin traveled to Hickory City Park for the first two rounds of the 3A West Individual Tournament. After nearly sweeping the Mountain Seven Conference Tournament the previous week, the team was well-represented at the regional, with Phillips and Angel playing in the singles bracket and Stork/Guynn and the Hollands playing doubles.
Having earned Nos. 2 and 3 seeds as the conference’s runner-up and third place finishers respectively, Phillips and Angel both won their first-round matches, but fell to difficult opponents in Round 2. In doubles, Stork/Guynn and the Hollands had a bit more luck, each winning their first-round matches 6-0, 6-1.
Stork and Guynn had yet another run-in with West Henderson in Round 2, defeating the Falcons’ top pair of Shea Sullivan and Madi Burleson 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. On the other side of the bracket, the Hollands drew some unlikely opponents, dispatching another pair of sisters from Foard 6-0, 7-5.
Stork and Guynn played another tough pair in the Semifinals, meeting the tournament’s top seed in North Lincoln’s Natalie Gore and Lulu King. After winning a tough first set 7-5, the Panthers dropped the second set 1-6, but regrouped for another 7-5 win in Set 3 to complete the upset. The Hollands had no such trouble in in their own Semifinal, routing a pair from Hibriten 6-1, 6-1.
After meeting in the Mountain Seven Conference Doubles Final Oct. 11, Stork/Guynn and the Hollands gave Panther fans a bit of déjà vu, meeting again for the Regional Final in an unlikely All-Panther matchup. In a 6-3, 6-2 victory, the Hollands again beat their teammates for the title, capturing the region’s No. 1 seed in the 3A State Doubles tourney in Burlington Oct. 27-28. The championship is Franklin’s second in two years in 3A West Doubles, after Phillips and former senior Alyssa Smith won the tournament last fall.