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Warren Central's Ivan Ozherelev follows through on a shot during a boys' singles match against Vicksburg High Tuesday at Halls Ferry Park. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's tennis team stands together for a photo after beating Vicksburg High 6-1 on Tuesday to clinch the MHSAA Region 2-6A championship for the first time since 2019. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Avery Hern hits a shot during a girls' singles match against Vicksburg High Tuesday at Halls Ferry Park. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Ivan Ozherelev chases down a shot during a boys' singles match against Vicksburg High Tuesday at Halls Ferry Park. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg's Kennedy Mullins prepares to serve during a girls' singles match against Warren Central Tuesday at Halls Ferry Park. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg's Kennedy Mullins hits a shot during a girls' singles match against Warren Central Tuesday at Halls Ferry Park. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg's Sam Baker returns a shot during a boys' singles match against Warren Central Tuesday at Halls Ferry Park. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High's Gideon Thompson returns a shot during a boys' doubles match against Warren Central Tuesday at Halls Ferry Park. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

The final steps of Warren Central’s march to the MHSAA Region 2-6A tennis championship were an easy victory lap.

The Vikings won six of seven matches in straight sets, including four by 6-0, 6-0 scores, as they defeated Vicksburg High 6-1 on Tuesday to claim their first region championship since 2019. Three years ago, Warren Central did not win a match at all.

“We had a couple of years there where we were really down. We had a year we went 0-14. Last year we came close, it came down to us and Neshoba, and that really lit a fire under my kids,” Warren Central coach Steve Summers said. “We competed in a juniors league through the summer. We went hard this entire year. That’s what we’ve been working on is this district win and, honestly, we want to carry it on into the playoffs and go deep in state.”

The region title comes with some tangible benefits for Warren Central. It will have home court advantage in the first two rounds of the team playoffs. The semifinals and finals will be played in Oxford April 14.

The team playoffs begin March 31. The individual Class 6A postseason, which is separate from the team competition, starts March 26 in Madison with the Region 2-6A tournament.

Halls Ferry Park will host the Class I, 3A and 5A team playoff semifinals and finals on April 14, and the individual tournaments in those classes April 15-17.

Against five region opponents this season, Warren Central won 31 of 35 individual matches it played. Tuesday’s championship clincher against crosstown rival Vicksburg was no exception.

Vicksburg’s Kennedy Mullins — who reached the Class 6A semifinals last season — beat WC’s Avery Hern 6-0, 6-1 in girls’ singles, and then Warren Central swept the rest of the points.

Ivan Ozherelev beat Vicksburg’s Sam Baker 6-0, 6-0 in boys’ singles. In boys’ doubles, Sam Harris and Gray Lampkin beat the Gators’ Chaez Moore and Gideon Thompson 6-0, 6-0; and Luke Bond and Brady Taylor defeated Arthur Davis and Kaleb Bailey by the same score.

Charles Harris and Laura Bailey also won 6-0, 6-0 in mixed doubles against Derrick Devonte and Arzariel Luckett.

In girls’ doubles, Sydney Sullivan and Lilli Feibelman won the No. 1 point vs. Midori Allen and Alysha Murrell 6-1, 6-1. Ellie Tennison and Amelia King took the No. 2 point 6-3, 6-2 over Grace Tyler and Madison Bailey.

Summers said experience and depth have powered Warren Central all season, and Tuesday was a good example of that. Bailey and King are the only two seniors on the roster, but most of the other 10 players have been in the lineup for several years already.

“A lot of teams in our district have good individual events. My team is just really deep. A lot of my team is juniors and sophomores that have been with me since seventh grade. A lot of them were starters in seventh and eighth grade. They’ve grown up now and played in a lot of big matches,” Summers said. “Every team in our district has one or two events that are really good and strong, but top to bottom we’re competitive on every court.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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