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Porter's Chapel Academy tennis player Henry Slayton hits a shot during a boys singles match Monday against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Mia Abdo hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Sophia Masterson hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Hannah Everett hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Jordan Combs hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Hannah Everett hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Marley Bufkin hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Hadleigh Slayton hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Ryan LaBarre hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy tennis player Mak Madison hits a shot during a match Monday against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Noah LaBarre hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Aden Summers hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter's Chapel Academy's Aden Summers hits a shot during Monday's tennis match against St. Augustine. (Paul Ingram/For The Vicksburg Post)

Porter’s Chapel Academy did not win a trophy on Monday. It didn’t even get to claim bragging rights. Its showing against the reigning MAIS Class 3A tennis champions was still quite a feat in the big picture, however.

The Eagles won two singles and one girls doubles points, and lost two highly competitive matches as they fell 6-3 to St. Augustine at Halls Ferry Park in a showdown for the MAIS District 4-3A regular-season championship.

For PCA, whose program started four years ago and only has three seniors on the roster, it was a solid moral victory if not an actual one. PCA finished the regular season with a 5-4 overall record, and a 4-1 mark in district play. It’ll play in the District 4-3A tournament April 16 at Cypress Lake in Madison.

“It’s really awesome. We’ve come a long way,” said Sophie Masterson, who teamed with fellow senior Marley Bufkin to win their No. 1 girls doubles match 6-4, 6-4 against Caylin Simmons and Evie McGaugh on Monday. “Everyone has worked really hard. We’ve had good practices, have really good coaches, and they really know what they’re talking about. They help us a lot. We wouldn’t know what we’re doing without them.”

In addition to Masterson and Bufkin’s doubles win, PCA’s points on Monday came from Mia Abdo and Henry Slayton in singles matches. Abdo beat Mary Frances McGaugh in No. 2 girls singles 6-2, 7-5. Slayton defeated Morgan White in No. 1 boys singles 6-2, 6-2 to remain undefeated this season.

Slayton, who was a 2024 Class 3A runner-up in No. 1 boys doubles while teamed with Thomas Azlin, has only lost one set this season as a singles player. The senior has been on PCA’s tennis team since it started in 2022 and was pleased with how it has grown.

“I think we had six or seven people out here” at the beginning, Slayton said. “We’re doing a whole lot better. More kids want to come out here, they show up and it’s fun out here. We try to have fun with them.”

St. Augustine easily won the mixed doubles and both boys doubles points, and added another in No. 1 girls singles as Sadie Macon Brantley beat Hadleigh Slayton 6-2, 6-3. The Gryphons closed out their victory with two wins that were much tighter. Oskar Lucas went to a third-set tiebreaker to beat PCA’s Noah LaBarre 6-1, 1-6, 1-0 (10-3) in No. 2 boys singles. In No. 2 girls doubles, Lucy Sones and Jillian Perritt defeated PCA’s Jordan Combs and Hannah Everett 7-6, 6-3.

Although St. Augustine beat PCA in the head-to-head match-up of the top two teams in District 4-3A, the championship will ultimately be decided in the district tournament next week in Madison. It’s both a fresh start and a final test for the Eagles, several of whom have aspirations of both district and state championships.

“I’m really excited. I feel like me and Marley played a really good match and we’re both excited to go to the district. Hopefully we get a good seed,” Masterson said. “I feel like every game we’re just getting better and better. If me and Marley keep playing how we’re playing, we’ll do pretty good.”

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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