JACKSON – The St. Aloysius girls doubles pair of Bonney Neill and Lauren Fordice appeared on the verge of sending their Class 1A state championship match to a deciding third set.

But errors in their service game along with other unforced errors on volley returns allowed Natchez Cathedral’s Cami Willard and Madeline Beard to close out the match by winning a second-set tiebreak. Willard and Beard won seven of nine points in the tiebreak to finish off their 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) title victory Tuesday at Parham Bridges Tennis Center.

&#8220They had their chances,” St. Al coach Leonard Banks said after the match. &#8220There were so many errors, many of them unnecessary they just came up short.”

The match started off well when Neill, who was seeking a fourth doubles championship in four years, fired an ace to win game one of the first set.

Fordice followed with a net winner to put the Lady Flashes up a break. But the Green Wave pair reeled off the next six games to take the first set, 6-2. They took advantage of a handful of double fault points as Fordice was unable to hold serve.

The St. Al senior, however, did smash another winner from the net to get a service break back from Beard to win the first game of the second set.

Neill again held her serve, finishing off the game with another ace. The Lady Flashes then broke Willard to go up 3-0 in the second set.

The Cathedral pair won the next two games but Neill again held serve for a 4-2 lead.

&#8220It was fine today,” Neill said of her service games.

Unfortunately, Fordice could not get enough of her serves across. Willard and Beard won the next three games and had three match points against Neill’s serve at 4-5.

A nice drop shot by Neill evened the game and Fordice came up with another winner to save the game and tie the set at 5-5.

Service breaks on both sides forced a 6-6 tiebreaker. Willard and Beard won four of the last five points to finish the match.

&#8220We just tried to keep a positive approach,” Beard said afterwards. &#8220Bonney was doing a lot better on her serve from the first match we played them at the first of the season.”

Fordice and Neill reached the final by beating Emily Nettles and Ashley Fitzpatrick of Sacred Heart 8-6, 6-1 in a Tuesday morning semifinal match.

Class 5A

In the Class 5A Tournament, Vicksburg High won three matches Monday morning, but then fell in all three of its second-round matches Monday afternoon.

Boys singles player Donald Brown defeated Chase Black of Northwest Rankin 6-1, 6-1. He then lost to top-seeded Alex Thomas of Tupelo 6-2, 6-0 in the second round.

Christine Figueroa won her first-round match over Jim Hill’s Tiffany Myles 6-0, 6-2, then lost to Brandon’s Kechinye Didia 6-1, 6-3.

The Missy Gators’ doubles pair of Catherine Figueroa and Grace Ga-as won their opening match over Brandi Harbour and Wendy Dawson 6-0, 6-1. But then they ran into defending state champion Millie Elder and Ashton Hartley of Clinton for a 6-1, 6-4 defeat.

Warren Central’s boys doubles team of Steven Faulks and Nick Melby lost in the first round to Tupelo’s Jody and Jason Vinson 6-2, 6-3.