A season for the record books continues for Panther women’s tennis.
After routing Central Cabarrus in Round 1 of the Dual Team State Playoffs, Heather Bell’s squad faced a jam-packed week of Oct. 23, with Day 2 of the 3A West Individual Tournament and two more rounds of Dual Team action. With a 3A West Doubles title from Laura and Lydia Holland, a runner-up finish from Maci Stork and Logan Guynn, and three more Dual Team Playoff wins, Franklin continued one of its greatest seasons in program history.
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 met some familiar opponents in Round 2, dropping the first set but ultimately defeating West Henderson’s 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 strong 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.
Less than 24 hours later, the Panthers returned to the Macon County Rec Park for yet another run-in with West. After finishing second to Franklin in the Mountain Seven Conference this year, the Falcons entered the Dual Team Playoffs with the 3A West’s 13th seed, defeating 20th-ranked Central Academy to meet the 4th-ranked Panthers in Round 2.
Having twice beaten West eight matches to one this regular season, Franklin took care of business again in the rivals’ third meeting, winning all six singles matches to send the Falcons home with no need to play doubles. After falling 6-1 to Phillips in Set 1 of the No. 1 match, Sullivan regrouped to force a 7-6 tiebreak in Set 2, but Phillips prevailed 7-4 to cement the win. At No. 2, Angel played the match of the day for Franklin, splitting two sets with Burleson 6-3, 3-6 but winning a third-set tiebreak 10-6.
At Nos. 3 and 6, Stork and Lydia Holland won 6-0, 6-0; while Laura Holland and Guynn earned convincing wins at Nos. 4 and 5.
After dispatching West, on Oct. 25 the Panthers returned to the rec park for a difficult third-round matchup. As the 5th-ranked team in the region, Atkins entered the contest with just one loss on the year, and gave Franklin their toughest Dual Team test to that point in the season.
At No. 1, Phillips played a bipolar first two sets, dropping the first set 1-6 but winning the second 6-1. The junior claimed a 10-6 third-set tiebreak to give her team a crucial win.
Phillips’ was far from the day’s only close-fought match, as Laura Holland lost narrowly at No. 4 6-4, 5-7, (5-10). At Nos. 5 and 6, Guynn and Lydia Holland were also forced into third-set tiebreaks, each needing more than two hours to win 7-5, 2-6, (10-4) and 6-2, 2-6, (10-6) respectively. Stork earned a relatively easy win by comparison, claiming the No. 3 match 6-0, 6-4.
With the dual team contest still up in the air at four matches to two, both teams took the court for doubles in increasingly dark and chilly conditions. While Phillips/Angel and Stork/Guynn weren’t able to seal the Dual Team victory, the 3A West Doubles Champions came through once again for Franklin, blanking their No. 3 opponents 8-0 for the win.
“I think it was more of a mental exhaustion than physical,” said Guynn of her marathon singles match. “With Regionals and everything, your mood fluctuates so much because you win and you’re on top of the world, and then you lose and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ So, it’s pretty hard to keep your head steady and realize that one point doesn’t determine the entire match. But, I pulled it out, so that was good.”
Although the win over Atkins kept their season alive, it was something of a milestone for Franklin’s seniors, who are unlikely to host another match at the rec park. While the prospect of the last match on their home court was bittersweet for some, Guynn said she wouldn’t lose much sleep over the thought.
“I actually didn’t think about it until Lydia and Laura got off the court, and they were like, ‘That was our last match on the court!’” she said. “It doesn’t really bother me that much, because to me it’s not about the court. It’s about the girls, and I know that I’ll have relationships with the girls throughout our lives.”
After beating Atkins, on Oct. 26 Guynn, Stork and the Hollands traveled to Burlington for the State Individual Tournament. There, Stork and Guynn drew tough first-round opponents in a pair from J.H. Rose, who defeated them 7-6 (4), 6-1.
The Hollands found a bit more success in their first-round match, defeating a pair from South Brunswick 6-3, 6-4. Their remarkable run ended in the State Quarterfinals, in a narrow 6-4, 7-6 (3) defeat to a pair from Cape Fear.
The doubles pairs had little time to dwell on their losses however, as the Panthers traveled to No. 1-ranked North Lincoln for the Dual Team State Quarterfinals Oct. 30. There, both teams looked evenly matched early on, each claiming three of the day’s six singles matches to enter the doubles portion in a dead heat.
Exactly one week after defeating King and Gore in the 3A West doubles semis, Stork met King once again in the No. 3 match, this time with King winning narrowly 7-5, 6-4. Gore and top Knights player Emma Carver won convincingly at Nos. 1 and 2.
Franklin dominated Nos. 4-6 however, led by blowout wins at No. 4 from Laura Holland (6-0, 6-3) and at No. 5 from Guynn (6-1, 6-2). At No. 6, Lydia Holland won a hard-fought first set 7-5, then cruised to a 6-2 win in Set 2.
Tied 3-3 after singles play, the contest’s outcome rode on its three doubles matches, where Carver and Gore earned a razor-thin 9-7 win at No. 1. Franklin’s 3A West Doubles Finalists took care of business however, with Stork/Guynn winning 8-4 at No. 2 and the Hollands shutting out their No. 3 opponents 8-0. The 5-4 victory over the region’s No. 1-ranked team highlighted the talent on Franklin’s roster from top to bottom.
After defeating North Lincoln, the 18-0 Panthers advanced to the State Semifinals, setting up a trip to Lake Norman Charter near Charlotte Nov. 1. This is the third straight year the two teams will meet deep in the playoffs, after the Knights eliminated Franklin in the 2021 Quarterfinals and 2022 Semifinals. Lake Norman enters the contest with a 22-0 overall record and the No. 2 seed in the 3A West.