PCA tennis trio falls in Class 3A semifinals; Briarfield and SIA have good days in Class 2A tournament
Published 8:20 pm Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Porter’s Chapel Academy’s excellent inaugural tennis season came to an end Wednesday at the MAIS Class 3A state tournament.
Singles player Henry Slayton, and the mixed doubles team of Hadleigh Slayton and Thomas Azlin, both lost in the semifinals of their respective brackets at the Ridgeland Tennis Center.
Henry Slayton, a junior, lost 6-2, 6-2 to Providence Classical’s Reily Lenert in the No. 1 boys’ singles draw. Lenert went on to beat St. Augustine’s Wilkes White 6-2, 6-2 for the Class 3A championship.
In mixed doubles, Hadleigh Slayton and Azlin were blitzed 6-0, 6-1 by St. Augustine’s Ella Hathcock and Will Meyer. Hathcock and Meyer went on to win the state championship as well.
Porter’s Chapel was in its first season as a full varsity tennis program. In addition to the three players who reached the state tournament, the No. 2 boys’ doubles team of Corbin Bass and Noah LaBarre and John McGee in No. 2 boys singles advanced to the North State tournament.
In the Class 2A tournament on Wednesday, Sharkey-Issaquena Academy’s Orry Duggan and Rodgers Ewing reached the No. 2 boys doubles final before falling 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 to Briarfield Academy’s Deacon Howard and Jackson Thornton.
Briarfield’s Jack Martin and Holt Davis easily won their semifinal match in No. 1 boys doubles before losing 7-5, 6-1 to Riverdale’s Luke Greer and Will Jones.
In No. 1 boys singles, Briarfield’s Miller Holt beat SIA’s Blaine Stewart 6-4, 6-2 for the Class 2A title.
The No. 2 boys singles draw also had a Briarfield vs. SIA final, as Briarfield’s Ben Coullard beat Sharkey-Issaquena’s Landen Warbington 6-0, 6-0.
Briarfield’s No. 2 girls’ doubles team of Ella Claire Payne and Gracen Thornton beat Benedict Day’s Anna Cooper Clayton and Olivia Hux 6-3, 7-6 to win the Class 2A championship.
And in the Class 2A mixed doubles draw, Tensas Academy’s Philip Watson and Ellie Blanche beat Briarfield’s Anna Tatum and John Robert Walters 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the final.