The New Hanover girl’s tennis team’s undefeated season came to a devastating loss in the NCHSAA 4A dual-team state championship on Saturday in Burlington.
The Wildcats (25-1) fell 5-4 after to Myers Park (21-1) after a controversial officiating ruling forced the team into a 4-2 deficit heading into doubles.
While New Hanover lost at No. 1 and No. 2 Singles to start the match, victories from Elle Harmon and Caroline Morrison put that team down 4-2 before the last singles set of the day.
After splitting a set with Myer Park’s Finley Holzman, Wildcats freshman Elizabeth Sifly appeared to win a third set 10-8, but an official stopped play and retroactively awarded a point to Holzman, making it 9-8. Holzeman would go on to win the set, putting the Wildcats in a 4-2 bind entering doubles.
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“Never have I ever seen an official step in like that and make a ruling like that,” New Hanover coach Jenifer Coleman said. “She just inserted herself and made a judgment, and that judgment cost us the state championship.”
Needing to win all three doubles matches, New Hanover had to shift its tactics, a move that ultimately saw Myers Parks’ No. 1 Doubles team play against the Wildcats No. 2 team.
“You have to change your strategy at that point because you’ve got to win three courts,” Coleman said. “We had to spread ourselves thinner than we would have if we were at 3-3.”
The deficit proved too much for New Hanover, who, despite getting two blowout victories in doubles, lost at No. 2 Doubles to lose the match.
New Hanover’s historic season, which included becoming the first Wilmington-area tennis team — boys or girls — to advance to a 4A state title match, will undoubtedly be remembered for the wrong reasons.
“It’s been an incredible season,” Coleman said. “We’ve had so much fun, and we’ve gotten so much better from where we were in August until the end; we are a whole different group of kids.”
