The duo of Forbush’s Cooper Hennings and Calvin Norman reached the semifinals during last week’s Foothills 2A Conference tennis tournament at North Surry.
North Surry High School played host to the 2021-22 Boys Tennis Foothills 2A Conference Championship on Thursday.
East Surry and Surry Central both had dominant performances, and each occupied both spaces in a championship round. The Singles Championship came down to East Surry vs. East Surry, and the Doubles Championship came down to Surry Central vs. Surry Central.
All four singles competitors and four doubles teams to reach the semifinal round automatically qualify for the 2A Midwest Regional Championship. East Surry earned three of the qualifying spots, Surry Central and North Wilkes each claimed two, and the final qualifying bid went to Forbush.
In singles: East Surry’s Cooper Motsinger won first, East Surry’s Levi Watson finished second, and North Wilkes’ Aiden Pennell and Mitch Adams reached the semifinals.
In doubles: Surry Central’s team of Josh Pardue and Jacob Edmonds won first, the Surry Central duo of Tripp McMillen and Michael Tucker finished second, while East Surry’s Kade Talton and Nick Lowery reached one semifinal and Forbush’s Calvin Norman and Cooper Hennings reached the other.
Surry Central swept the conference’s top regular season honors. Pardue was named FH2A Player of the Year for finishing the going 12-0 in singles and 12-0 in doubles against conference teams. Mason Midkiff was named FH2A Coach of the Year after guiding Surry Central to a 12-0 conference record and its first conference championship in at least 13 years.
Singles
Motsinger came into the FH2A as the No. 1 seed and earned a first-round BYE thanks to his 10-2 singles record against conference opponents.
The opening matches of each bracket played eight-game pro sets, while every subsequent round was contested in the standard 2-of-3 sets.
Forbush’s Samuel Crews defeated North Surry’s Colby Callaway 8-3 in the opening round, then Motsinger defeated Crews 6-0, 6-1. North Wilkes’ Adams defeated Surry Central’s Isaac Eller 8-2 in the opening round, then advanced to the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Wilkes Central’s Gage York.
On the bottom half of the bracket, North Wilkes’ Pennell earned a first-round BYE as the No. 2 seed then defeated Forbush’s Jacob St. John in the quarterfinals. No. 6 Watson defeated Maddox Martin of Surry Central 8-3, then upset No. 3 seeded Nick Hall of Wilkes Central 6-1, 6-1.
Motsinger defeated Adams 6-0, 6-1 in one semifinal. Watson won his first set 6-3 over Pennell, then led 4-0 when Pennell retired from the match.
Motsinger defeated his Cardinal teammate 6-2, 6-0 to win the FH2A Singles Championship.
Doubles
Pardue and Edmonds were the No. 1 seed in the doubles tournament thanks to a perfect 12-0 record as a doubles team in conference play.
North Surry’s Jordan Inman and Ty Richardson defeated North Wilkes’ Caleb Parsons and Lucas Berrier 8-6 in the opening round. The Greyhound duo ran into Pardue and Edmonds in the quarterfinals and lost 6-1, 6-1.
East Surry’s Talton and Lowery, seeded No. 4, defeated a team from West Wilkes 8-1 in the first round (West Wilkes doesn’t have a roster available on MaxPreps), then the Cardinal pair beat Forbush’s Wyatt Graham and Caden Funk 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals.
On the bottom half of the bracket, Forbush’s Norman and Hennings were the No. 2 seed. East Surry’s Lupe Chavez and Noah Hopkins defeated North Wilkes’ Marshall Welborn and Evan Dubuque 8-0 in the opening round, then Norman and Hopkins defeated the Cardinal team 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.
The No. 6-ranked team of Surry Central’s Tucker and McMillen defeated a team from West Wilkes 8-0 in the opening round, then topped North Surry’s No. 3-seeded team of Holdin Hall and Nathan Lattimore 6-2, 6-2 to reach the semifinals.
Pardue and Edmonds beat Talton and Lowery 6-0, 6-3 in one semifinal, and the team of Tucker and McMillen defeated Forbush’s Norman and Hennings 6-0, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
Pardue and Edmonds defeated their Golden Eagle teammates 6-2, 6-2 to capture the FH2A Doubles Championship.
Reach Cory on Twitter @MaNewsSports
