Ethan Lyon and Houston Callaway of East Wilkes finished as semifinalists in the 1A tournament, while Cody Poplin and Nathan Poteat of North Wilkes advanced to the quarterfinals in the 2A tourney.
While neither doubles group brought home the ultimate prize of a state title, each advanced one round and took home plenty of satisfaction on being among the best in North Carolina at their sport.
Lyon and Callaway, both juniors, are only the third doubles tandem in East Wilkes history to make the state tournament. Seniors Poplin and Poteat broke new ground for North Wilkes by making the state field last year and finished their high school careers by achieving a repeat.
"With our guys being juniors, the experience is what it was all about," East Wilkes coach Aaron Simmons said."We walked away disappointed, yes, at not winning, but overall feeling good about ourselves."
Callaway and Lyon overcame some early jitters to put away Bobby Schultz and Mac Schultz of Raleigh Charter 6-3, 7-6 (5) in their opener. The Schultz brothers jumped out to a 3-0 first-set lead in about five minutes, prompting Simmons to gather his troops at the fence.
"It's a big stage, and I just told them this is kind of normal," Simmons said. "I told them to just keep the ball in play, and the tide would start shifting."
It did in a big way, and the Cardinal duo won the next nine games, playing what Simmons described as "beautiful" tennis. The Raleigh Charter team fought back to force a tie-breaker in the second set but Callaway and Lyon prevailed to advance to the semifinals.
There, the East Wilkes tandem ran into 1A West Region champions Tyler Grove and Robert Beal of Hendersonville again. Grove won a singles state title last season but chose to play doubles this year with fellow senior Beal.
The talented duo beat Callaway and Lyon 6-1, 6-1 on Friday afternoon and then went on to take out Mount Airy's Nicholas John and Dusty Roberson in Saturday's championship match 6-2, 6-3.
Lyon and Callaway won the second game of the match against Grove and Beal, and pushed game three to deuce. But from there, the Hendersonville duo got on a roll.
"They stepped up and played even better against us than in the semis at regionals," Simmons said. "They were just stepping up and cranking on the ball, and not making unforced errors. They deserved to be the state champs. We just don't see doubles teams like this every year in 1A tennis. Those guys were just amazing."
Poteat and Poplin were the No. 1 seed from the West in the 2A tournament, which featured 16 doubles teams (the 1A tourney only had eight).
The North Wilkes duo knocked off Danny Siegel and Tony Stoll of Swansboro 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round Friday morning.
But they faced a tough doubles team from undefeated Cardinal Gibbons in the quarterfinals. Crusaders Chris Geaslen and Chris Betz knocked the Viking duo out 6-2, 6-0.
Geaslen and Betz eventually lost in the semifinals to a team from First Flight. Cardinal Gibbons' No. 1 doubles team of Ryan Daly and Jonathan Fedorkowicz went on to repeat as state champs. Still alive in the dual-team playoffs, Cardinal Gibbons has a 23-0 team record.
As for Poplin and Poteat, the pair set a new North Wilkes record for most doubles wins in a season with 21. The previous record had been 12, set in 1997.
A pair of Surry Central singles players lost their first-round matches Friday.
Kyle Eiswald, the MVAC champ in singles, was defeated in straight sets by James Chase of First Flight from Kill Devil Hills 6-1, 6-3. Teammate Kirk Johnson suffered a 6-4, 6-1 loss in straight sets to Lucas Ford of South Columbus.
"They actually played very, very well," Surry Central coach Greg McCormick said of Johnson and Eiswald. "Both matches were very tight. They played loose and went after shots. It was a great experience for both of them."
McCormick said Johnson played his best tennis of the year at the event.
"Both sets were tight, but the other guy would just pull out the critical points. Johnson really pushed him," McCormick said.
Johnson, who played all but two of his matches at the No. 1 position for Surry Central, finished with an overall season record of 12-10.
"Kyle's just a junior, and I think the experience was great for him," McCormick said. "He started off kind of nervous, but once he settled in, he played some really good tennis.
"I'm hoping he can use that to his advantage for next year," he said. "I'm just really proud of their accomplishment."
Eiswald, who played all but four of his matches at No. 2, finished with an overall record of 21-6. He played four matches as the Golden Eagles' top seed.
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