Bishop McGuinness freshman Lucia Neves recently won the individual state title in girls’ tennis, and the Lady Villains team avenged its only loss of the season with a 5-3 win over East Wilkes on Wednesday.
Neves became the first Bishop McGuinness girls’ tennis player to win a singles title since Morgan Auger in 2014. The individual championship matches took place in Cary, where Neves defeated Triangle Math & Science’s Sasha Korjova 6-4, 6-4 in the championship match. .
Lady Villains head coach Larry Ingram said it was quite an accomplishment for a freshman.
“The girl she beat in the championship match was a very good player, and she had already won a state championship match in doubles before. I feel good about Neves’ chances of winning another state championship. She’s going to get better and better. In November, she’ll head to San Antonio…to play in the national championships. Technically, she’s 14, but… in the United States Tennis Association, she plays U16 singles and doubles. She just wants to compete. For the regular season with us, she lost a total of seven games,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Lady Villains (17-1), seeded No. 3 in the 1-A bracket of the East Region, were motivated to advance in the playoffs and erase the only blemish of their season.
“It was a close game and it was great. The girls seemed to want revenge. East Wilkes was a very good team. They were much better than a No. 10 seed, but the top eight seeds went to the conference champions. They are a very competitive team and their #1 doubles team made it to the state doubles championship match. Our #3 seed (Adelaide Jernigan) was visiting college for this game, and our #6 for this game (Anne Overman) played from #5 for this game and injured her foot. So we changed some things for the next game with them. We let a few close games slip away against East Wilkes. That was a lesson in itself. We have to close the matches. He told us what we should do and what we should focus on, and that is what we are doing in practice. Some of the girls who lost to East Wilkes for the first time won on Wednesday, and I think that gave us some confidence,” Ingram said.
Bishop McGuinness will play Mount Airy, the three-time defending Class 1-A state champion, on Tuesday afternoon. The winner of that game will play Saturday in the Class 1-A state championships.
“Mount Airy is really good, and they’re three-time champions, but we beat them earlier this season. They’re a great team and their coach is a really good coach and a really nice guy. The girls are really motivated and ready to take on the challenge. The top two teams in the East are East Roxboro and No. 2 Chatham Charter. I think if we can get past Mount Airy, we have a good chance to win the state title,” Ingram said.
Wednesday
Bishop McGuinness 5, East Wilkes 3
Simple
Lucia Neves (BM) d. Emerson Simmons 4-1, retired; Kendall Herr (BM) d. Ava Darnell, 6-4, 7-5; Adelaide Jernigan (BM) d. Abbie Kilpatrick 6-1, 6-0; Lily Truitt (EW) d. Sarah Pulliam 6-0, 6-7 (1-7), 10-6; Lily Winters (BM) d. Diella District 6-4, 6-3; Sydney Johnson (EW) def. Anne Overman 4-6, 6-2, 10-3
Simmons/Darnell (EW) d. Neves/Pulliam 8-4; Herr/Jernigan (BM) d. Kilpatrick/Truitt 8-4.
