MORGANTOWN — It will be quite a travel party for next week’s state tournament for the Morgantown High girls’ and University High boys’ tennis teams.
Everyone is invited.
More to the point, both teams qualified every member who participated in the Region I qualifying tournament, at Marilla Park on Friday.
For the Hawks, it’s the first time in school history an entire boys’ team advanced to the state tournament.
“Our team is made up of great individuals, but our overall depth continued to improve throughout the season and that’s become the story of our team,” UHS boys’ head coach Tom McClellan said. “We have three seniors and no juniors, so we’re still a pretty young team.
“To have everyone qualify is something our boys can be very proud of.”
The state tournament is May 10-12, in Charleston.
The MHS girls’ captured six regional championships — three doubles teams and three individuals.
“All season, they have been going through a process and everyone had states in mind,” MHS girls’ head coach Ted Greenlee said. “We’ve played against some very good teams this season, so we’ll enter the state tournament cautiously optimistic.”
Cat Wassick (No. 2 singles), Vinitha Joseph (No. 3) and Mackenzie Thornton (No. 4) all won regional singles titles.
Emme Jones took second at No. 1 singles and will advance to states.
Jones and Wassick won at No. 1 doubles for the Mohigans, while Thornton and Bella Mascari won at No. 2 doubles and Joseph and Ashalia Aggarwal won at No. 3 doubles.
“They have all played so hard and have worked hard to get to this point,” Greenlee said. “I’m very proud of what they’ve accomplished.”
The Hawks claimed three regional titles in singles competition and two more in doubles play.
Drew and Kyle Hawthorne won No. 1 and No. 2 singles titles and Andre Barcinas also won at No. 4.
Tommy McClellan finished runner-up at No. 3 singles and also advanced to the state tournament.
In doubles, the Hawthornes won at No. 1, while the team of Levi Watson and Deiland Slaughter also won the No. 3 doubles title.
Jackson Rutledge and Jameson Walters took second at No. 2 doubles to advance to states.
“Moving forward, I think this will be a great learning experience for our team,” McClelland said. “We are young and we have mostly everyone back for next season, so this could be something very positive for us.”
