CFNN Reporter Sophia Bullard

This week, Cape Fear’s Women’s Tennis team took on some of the toughest opponents they’ve seen all season. There was no school for students on Monday and Tuesday of this week, but class was certainly in-session on the courts at Arnette Park Monday. The girls cut their break early over to play Durham School of Arts in a second round state playoff match. Wednesday, the team traveled all the way out to Rocky Mount High School for the 3rd round of the state playoffs. 

The girls put up quite a fight against the Bulldogs of DSA. The match was surely a good tune-up for Wednesday. All of the matches were close, and eventually the Colts were able to win the match, but things were tight after the score was 3-3 after singles. The doubles matches turned into a marathon, as the Colts eventually pulled out a win in all three doubles matches, albeit very close doubles matches. 

Dani Fick lost her singles match, but not before she made it to a 10 point tiebreak and won her doubles. 

“I got worked really well during singles. She was a good tennis player and she was fast so it was difficult to adapt to her strategies, but in the end she won. In doubles, I had to focus even more and communicate with Ansley because I knew that we needed to win,” Fick said.

The Colts would eventually win the overall match 6-3. The match was extremely close, but the girls pushed through and came out on top, qualifying them for the 3rd round matchup against Rocky Mount on Wednesday.

The team knew going in that their next match was going to be excruciating for the team. They were correct. In what seemed like a marathon, the girls played for a whopping five hours. The first serve came at three in the afternoon and ended at eight; the girls were tired by the end, and some even sustained minor injuries, but this match was the most important match of the season. The girls fought on.

In singles, the team lost 2-4, although things were close on every court. First court star athlete Anna Piland battled with everything she had, eventually injuring herself. She has just come back from a stress fracture in her foot, and endured it through the match. She lost her singles match, coming close to pulling out a victory. She found her strength again when doubles came, as she and “double trouble” partner, Shea Bieniek won.

Doubles came through, winning on the first two courts. The last court came up just short, ending in a 5-8 score. The third court was almost able to pull through, but came up just short. The girls played beautifully nevertheless, and did not disappoint. First and second doubles battled strongly, and pulled out their wins. 

Second court doubles partners, Andi Brinker and Brianna Keen played an excruciating match against two sisters from Rcky Mount, and it was an interesting one to watch. The opponents kept up the scores, but our Lady Colts pulled it out with a final score of 8-6. 

“We needed to focus on talking to each other, because they both liked to hit us shorter shots and get us up at the net. They liked to set us up and that was how they would get their points,” said Bri Keen. 

“I think the most important thing that we needed to focus on was keeping up with their pace while also playing at our own pace. We needed to try to cross out all of our unforced errors,” Andi Brinker added. 

The girls listened to each others’ positive mindsets, pulled out their win, and made their team proud. 

Unfortunately, the overall score with both singles and doubles came out a 4-5. They came extremely close, but fell just short. This meant that the road to a 3rd consecutive State Title ended in Rocky Mount with a loss to the Gryphons. This would be their final match of the season, and it was emotional, to say the least. 

The girls said their goodbyes to the seniors, as it was their last night ever playing tennis together. This week brought the tennis season to an end, and though they lost, it was a victorious season. The team has been one of the most statistically successful teams in Cape Fear history over the past five years, and the future still looks bright for the Colts.