By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

MOUNT AIRY — Aaron Simmons has been around East Wilkes tennis for a number of years, first as a player and then recently as a coach.

He can’t remember the last time the Cardinals had a competitor playing for a conference championship in both singles and doubles at the same time. But that was the case this week, with singles player Taylor Ward and the doubles duo of Ethan Lyon and Houston Callaway advancing to their respective Northwest 1A title bouts.

East Wilkes lost both championship matches — barely in both cases — but Simmons was proud to be there coaching his top three guys after just about everyone else in the league had wrapped up play.

Ward lost to Mount Airy freshman Matt Kessler 7-5, 7-6 (8-6) — about as close as you can get without taking a set.

Lyon and Callaway lost their first set to Mount Airy’s Nick John and Brooks Mayberry 6-4, rallied to win the second set 6-4 and then lost the third set 7-6 (8-6 in the tiebreaker). Again a barn-burner.

“We were a point or two away from having a conference championship, but it wasn’t meant to be,” Simmons said. “But the guys realize that bigger things lie ahead and that they are as talented as anyone in the state and are pretty tough to beat.”

Rains on Wednesday delayed both championship matches until Thursday afternoon. Lyon and Callaway had just lost the first set and were up 1-0 in the second when the deluge came to the Mount Airy High courts. But the postponement served the East Wilkes duo well, Simmons said.

“We had a chance to refocus,” he said Thursday night. “(John and Mayberry) really came out smoking (Wednesday) but we came out smoking today.”

The third set proved nip and tuck throughout. East Wilkes got down 2-1 but eventually broke serve to take a 4-3 lead. Mount Airy broke right back and things were tied 4-4 and eventually 6-6.

Lyon and Callaway bolted to a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker before John and Mayberry scored the next three points. The Cardinal duo had one match point at 6-5 but couldn’t close things out.

“Hopefully we’re going to see them again on a bigger stage,” Simmons said, referring to the upcoming regional tournament at Elkin next weekend and the state tournament later this month in Cary.

“Nick and Brooks are both extremely gifted players, all-state caliber. Man, what a match.”

While the rain delay seemed to help Lyon and Callaway, it did more to knock Ward off his game for a bit. He was leading Kessler 5-4 in the first set when his match was called Wednesday.

Kessler came out and won three straight Thursday to capture the first set 7-5. Ward lost three more games in a row before rallying to take four straight.

Ward plays No. 3 singles for the Cardinals, ranked No. 4 as a team in the state for Class 1A in the latest coaches poll. Kessler plays No. 4 for Mount Airy, which is currently ranked No. 1 in the state.

Ward beat Bishop’s Chris Lawyer in the conference semifinals. Lyon and Callaway topped Alleghany’s Cody Miller and Zach Gauldin in the doubles semifinals.

All three East Wilkes players advance to regionals. Elkin’s Andrew Reece and Schon Reece also will play in the regional draw next weekend. The Buckin’ Elk players made it to the conference semifinals before falling to the eventual champs from Mount Airy.

East Wilkes has qualified as a team to play in the dual-team 1A playoffs. Those start Tuesday. The Cardinals as the No. 2 seed from the Northwest 1A, likely will travel to Hendersonville, currently ranked seventh in the state. Hendersonville eliminated Mount Airy 6-0 in last year’s dual-team playoffs but graduated several players from that squad.

“Last year they were the state runner-up,” Simmons said. “We’re definitely going to be in for a fight. But we’ve only lost to one team this season (Mount Airy). We’ve got a good team, too. If the guys can just come along to believing that we’ve been right there with Mount Airy.”

Simmons coached the East Wilkes girls to a perfect season and a 1A state championship in the fall. This year’s boys team is 13-2 overall, 10-2 in conference.