By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

The Tom Gwyn Tennis Complex in Elkin will feature a “best in the west” high school tournament this weekend.

Elkin is the host for the 1A West regionals, which will decided the four doubles and four singles representatives for next weekend’s Class 1A state tournament.

Play begins at 2 p.m. today and will continue with the semifinals, championship and third-place matches on Saturday.

The Buckin’ Elks will have one doubles team in the field, Andrew Reece and Schon Reece, who played their way in by advancing to the Northwest 1A Conference semifinals last week. East Wilkes will have both a doubles team (Ethan Lyon and Houston Callaway) and a singles player (Taylor Ward).

Both of the Cardinals’ entries were runners-up in the conference tournament a week ago.

Callaway and Lyon were region semifinalist a year ago and won a match at state before being ousted.

Seeding and draws will not be decided until a coaches meeting before play begins today.

Elkin High has been a fixture in 1A tennis for years, though the program has been in a bit of a rebuilding mode the past few seasons. The Buckin’ Elks have won seven 1A team titles and a string of individual championships, the last being a 1A doubles title won by Matthew Wurdeman and Nick Holcomb in 2006.

New coach Brandon Blackburn sees a lot of potential in his No. 1 doubles duo of Reece and Reece.

The Reece tandem rallied after losing their first set of the conference tournament to South Stokes to win the next two sets, 6-1, 6-2. The duo then fought off three set points in the second round against Bishop McGuinness, eventually taking that match as well.

“In the second set, Schon and Andrew really picked up the pace with Andrew hitting great ground strokes and serves, while Schon was a beast at the net,” Blackburn said.

That victory sealed up a region berth. Andrew and Schon were ousted by the eventual champions from Mount Airy, Nick John and Brooks Mayberry, 6-1, 6-1 in the semis.

Callaway and Lyon from East Wilkes went toe-to-toe with the John-Mayberry tandem in the Northwest 1A championship match. Mount Airy won the first set 6-4, then East Wilkes took the second 6-4. The third set went to a tiebreaker, with Callaway and Lyon even having one match point before falling 8-6.

Ward’s Northwest 1A finale was just about as close. He lost to Mount Airy freshman phenom Matt Kessler 7-5, 7-6 (8-6). “I definitely feel like you’re going to see some rematches (this weekend),” East Wilkes coach Aaron Simmons said. “It should be interesting.”

On the 2A front, Starmount singles player Corey Campbell will try to keep his record unblemished. He travels to Jackson Park in Hendersonville this weekend to play in the 2A West bracket.

Campbell blitzed through the Mountain Valley 2A Conference with an unbeaten record this spring, winning the tournament title last week.

Starmount singles player David Morrison as well as Rams doubles partners Zac McCollogh and Cole Johns also will play in the 2A West Regional, which starts this afternoon.