Gray Stone, North tennis clash for first place

Published 11:38 am Friday, September 13, 2019

Wednesday’s Yadkin Valley Conference women’s tennis showdown at Pfeiffer’ Knapp Tennis Center pitted two teams with undefeated conference records going into the matchup.

The result came down to the No. 2 doubles matchup as the previous eight contests left the Knights and Comets tied 4-4.

Gray Stone’s combination of Ella Hedenskog and Mia Taggart kept the Knights undefeated on the season to put the Knight out in first place over the Comets, 5-4.

The Knights’ second-seeded doubles team topped Andi Billingsley and Courtney Smith, 8-5, to secure the win for Gray Stone,

In singles play, the Knights (8-0, 7-0 YVC) got wins in singles from top seed Emma Bost over Billingsley, 6-1, 6-0, No. 3 seed Ella Hedenskog over Katie Earnhardt, 6-2 and 6-2, along with fifth-seeded Caroline Garner, who topped Courtney Smith 7-6 (7-3) and 6-4.

North (6-2, 5-2) got wins at No. 2 singles from Elithe Hudson, who beat Taggart 6-3 and 6-1 and the fourth-seeded match as Josie Luther beat Gray Stone’s Emma Sparger in three sets, 6-3, 6-7 (7-5) and 1-0 (13-11). With the Comets’ Bailey Smith winning at No. 6 singles 6-7 -(2-7), 6-4 and 1-0 (10-5), the match was tied 3-3 heading into doubles.

The Comets led 4-3 when No. 3 doubles team of Bailey Smith and Earnhardt won 8-2 over Garner and Shanden Plyler.

Gray Stone tied it at four wins each as its top-seeded doubles team, Bost and Sparger, won 8-3 over Hudson and Luther.

“The match was as intense as it could get,” Gray Stone head coach Zeb Bost said.

North Stanly and Gray Stone will have a rematch on Oct. 3 in the last week of the 2019 regular season.