Jun. 26—CARY — Oak Grove’s Jessica Fuchs kept moving toward a second appearance in the NCHSAA 2A state individual tennis championship match Friday.
Two of her Grizzlie teammates, Chloe Bethea and Marlie Stephenson, found the going a bit tougher but also stayed alive through the first two rounds of the state matches at Cary Tennis Park.
Fuchs, who reached the championship match in 2018, overpowered past Maggie Thornton of Jordan Matthews 6-0, 6-1 in the round of 16 and weathered an early challenge from Hendersonville’s Olivia Pursley and won 6-2, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
“I have to give it to my opponent, she’s a great player,” Fuchs said. “It was a competitive match.”
Fuchs, who said her serve has been clocked with a top speed of 108 mph, dropped the two games against Pursley early before making an adjustment, coming to the net more instead of smashing volleys from the baseline.
“I recognized her weaknesses and used that in the second set, which I do with many of my opponents,” Fuchs said. “I noticed I could be more aggressive at the net. I tried and if it didn’t work I would have tried something else. But, it did work. I tried everything I could.
“I also made sure I hit it to her backhand so I could set up my forehand, which I do with most of my opponents.”
Semifinal matches begin today at 9 a.m. with the finals following. Fuchs will face Alexa Allison of Newton-Conover, who dusted Abbey Lawson of Salisbury 6-0, 6-0.
This will be the third time Fuchs will play in at least the semifinals.
“I’m going into the match positive and strong mentally,” Fuchs said. “I’m confident if I stay positive, I’ll come out on top.”
Bethea and Stepehnson also rolled through their round-of-16 match, eliminating Dannie Lester and Lauren Tuttle of McMichael 6-2, 6-1.
It was a different story in the quarterfinals against Olivia Prevost and Olivia Franco of East Lincoln.
Bethea and Stepehnson squandered an early three-game lead in the first set, lost it in a 7-4 tiebreaker, then came from behind in winning the second set 6-4 and the third set 6-2.
Grizzlies coach Tom Bestor had a long conversation with them after they lost four straight games to go from leading 4-1 to trailing 5-4 in the first.
“I told them to settle down, play your game and everything would go in our direction,” Bestor said. “They battled back. That was a heck of a match. I’m truly proud of them.
“The first set, that other team started battling back. We went to the tiebreaker and lost it. My girls were down. When you get to the state tournament like this, the biggest thing is helping them keep their composure, tell them to forget about it to keep moving.”
In the second set, they rebounded from losing the first set to go up 5-2, lost the next two games and then closed it out on East Lincoln’s serve.
“They played really well together, Bestor said.
He also cautioned them to not hit toward Prevost, who rocketed forehands from the baseline and smashed returns of the Grizzlies’ lobs closer to the net.
“I told them not to hit toward her because she was really on her game, not to take away from the other player because she played well, too,” Bestor said. “When we hit it up front and close to the net, you couldn’t give those opportunities to that girl because she was fantastic. She was hitting it hard. I told our girls if you hit it at her, make it count because you need to hit it hard.”
Bethea and Stephenson face sisters McCullough and Eliza Perry of Hendersonville in the semifinals. The Perrys eliminated Millie Wymbs and Abby Campion of Salisbury 6-1, 6-0 in the quarters.
Wheatmore’s hopefuls, one in singles and one in doubles, were eliminated.
Kara Comer and Taylor Comer lost 6-0, 6-4 to Brogan Heavner and Etta Godfrey in the doubles quarterfinals after defeating Megan Smith and Elei Ayers of Forbush 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Hannah Carter of the Warriors lost to Lucy Bovard of Mt. Pleasant 6-0, 6-1 in the round-of-16 singles.
The Comers’ first match was among those suspended for over an hour after a Salisbury player fell on a court soaked by a persistent drizzle. They said the interruption was one of the reasons they did not play well in the second set.
“We came out strong and relaxed a little bit,” Taylor said.
Added Kara: “We let (the delay) get into our heads.”
They also fell behind in the third set but pulled ahead 5-4 and closed it out with a return near the net.
The Mt. Pleasant duo made their charge in the second and early in the third by hitting lobs. The Comers eventually countered by hitting direct shots with more speed.
It was the first trip past regionals for Carter, a senior.
“I felt very accomplished stepping on the court,” Carter said. “I was happy that I got this far. I played well but (Bovard) was just better than me. She was just good.”
In 1A, which was down to the quarterfinals, Lourdes Lopez of Bishop McGuinness defeated Keerthi Avula of Raleigh Charter 6-1, 6-0 then lost to Emma Grace Bost of Gray Stone Day 6-1,6-0 in the semifinals.
Elsewhere, Audrey Serb of Southwest Guilford lost to Clara Mast of East Chapel Hill 6-4,6-1 in the 3A singles round of 16 at the Burlington Tennis Complex.
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