SCHSL Boys Tennis State Championship Recap By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer Columbia - Thunderstorms throughout the Columbia area Saturday threatened to soak the South Carolina High School League boys tennis state championships, but once the venue moved from the Cayce Tennis Center to the University of South Carolina’s indoor tennis facility off Rosewood Avenue, three out of four championships fell into place. Myrtle Beach claimed the 5A Division 2 championship, A.C. Flora won the 4A crown, and Oceanside Collegiate won the 3A state title as the matches played out over the afternoon on the 6-court facility. The fourth, the 5A Division 1 matchup between upper state champion J.L. Mann and lower state champion Wando , was postponed and rescheduled for Thursday at noon at the USC indoor tennis facility. While under cover, USC’s facility is small compared to the Cayce Tennis Center’s 23-court spread, which would have had eight teams battle out four championships over the course of about four hours. 5A Division 2 Myrtle Beach downs upstate rival Riverside Regardless of classification in which they compete, the Myrtle Beach and Riverside tennis teams have been getting meeting in the state finals for several years. The Pirates won the 4A state title in 2023 with a win over the Warriors. The next year Riverside returned the favor and claimed the 4A crown. This spring both teams moved up a classification and found themselves in the 5A Division 2 bracket. And on Saturday through the rain and location change, Myrtle Beach claimed its second state championship in three years with a 5-1 defeat of the Warriors. “Riverside’s a great team,” Myrtle Beach head coach Jeremy Howe said, noting Riverside head coach Heather Gage . “They had a great strong team last year, and this year they were bringing back two returners, same as us. We have a good crew, but man, I respect that coach all day, and what they’re doing up there.” In singles, No.1 Spencer Green defeated Nathan Purica 2-6, 6-4 (10-0); No.2 Ashiv Patel defeated Hadden Otay 6-1, 6-1; No.4 Foster Cahill defeated Jaehun Kwak 6-4, 6-4, and No.5 Wyatt Anderson defeated Eric Zhou 6-0, 6-4 for Myrtle Beach. The doubles team of Gage Van Wagner and Kenneth Gunter defeated Thomas Belflower and Cooper Pauls 7-5, 7-5 to clinch the win. The only match that fell Riverside’s way was when Myrtle Beach No.3 player Caleb Cahill retired from his match with Spencer Thicke because of cramps. That happened after the Pirates clinched the championship. Gage, whose team won their first state championship in 20 years last year, said her young team is poised to do better in the future. “I’m really proud of my guys today,” Gage said. “It might be the same school and the same program, but I lost five starters from my program last year, and these guys who came in this year fought tooth and nail for every single point. They loved to go on the court and they played with character and class. I can’t ask for anything more.” Having an upstate rivalry to aim for will help her young team, Gage said. “It’s fun to have somebody to aspire to, we talk about it all season long,” Gage said. “Now these guys have the experience this year, they’ve been in this environment and they can come back next year knowing what to expect, and that pressure, it’s going to be so much easier to handle.” Howe, whose team has won three state championships in his four years with the team, thinks another “I can see them coming back again and again,” he said of the Warriors. “I hope that we’ll be back again and make it (to the state championship match) five years in a row.” 4A AC Flora tops Bishop England for 4A title This year’s A.C. Flora boys team picked up where the school’s 2021 state championship team left off. Despite the stoppage of play in the middle of the first sets in singles at the Cayce Tennis Center, and resumption of play in the USC indoor tennis facility, the 2025 Falcons kept their cool and took out Bishop England 5-1 to claim the team’s third state championship. “I don’t know how it works but each one gets sweeter and sweeter,” head coach Amy Martin , who won four state championships, three with the boys and one with the girls, said. “This was the middle school team from 2022, we grew them up from 2021 and they have come out and gotten exactly what they needed to get done this year.” Bishop England No.1 player Dante Naud defeated James Smyth 6-1, 6-4, but the Falcons notched a victory in every other match. No.2 Jude Smyth defeated Roland Wier 2-6, 6-1 (10-3), No.4 Vijay Sinha defeated Colin Murphy 6-1,6-2; No. 4 Will Hewitt defeated Parker Murphy 6-2, 6-4; and No.5 Wiliam Beasley defeated Lucas Kizzetto 6-2, 6-4. In doubles, the No.2 team of Will Trumpeter and Tripp Van Vlake defeated Andrew Hamilton and Caleb Watson 6-1, 6-0. The doubles match was the first win on the board for the Falcons, and once that victory was notched, the hassle of weather and moving from venue to venue disappeared. “We had to keep it rolling. We were a couple of games up, but that means nothing,” Martin said. “We came to a new surface, a new place where fans weren’t allowed to walk around, but we had to keep the same momentum we’ve had for the past three months.” The Falcons (21-1) had carried the momentum of a formidable team, but going into the final match Martin said she felt the pressure of finishing the season on a high note. She added that the team didn’t know much about the Bishops coming into Saturday’s match, and that helped, rather than hurt. “We knew nothing about Bishop England and that was probably to our advantage that we had no knowledge of them,” she said. “Because we overthink and sometimes it’s better to not know anything about your opponent sometimes. BE boys (14-2) coach Kristin Arnold knows that her team put in a lot of good work over the season, and with losses to two state champions, Flora and 3A champion Oceanside Collegiate, the Bishops record is a good one. “We had a great season, I’m very proud of the boys,” Arnold said. “The boys team hasn’t been to the state final since 2019 and they’ve worked incredibly hard to be in this position to be back here. They worked hard and competed and I’m very proud of them, it just wasn’t their day.” 3A Oceanside Collegiate wins fifth straight state championship The venue change didn’t bother Oceanside Collegiate at all. The 2024 2A state champion Landsharks took out Clinton 6-0 to win the 2025 3A championship, the boys team’s fifth straight state title. “We’re very lucky that our team is able to compete in different classes, 1A, 2A, 3A, we’ve been all over the map,” Head coach Alex Lazano said. “I’m just very lucky to have such good players that will allow us to succeed at any level.” Among those players is Coach Lazano’s son, No.1 player Alex Lazano , who defeated Nathan Meade . “Proud dad moment, he’s going to go play for The Citadel ,” Lazano said. “He’s won four straight high school championships. A lot of boys underneath him have won two or three state championships, and all the boys are working hard and competing. We’ve seen them from freshman all the way through graduation.” Behind Lazano’s son were No.2 Luke Skillman , who defeated Edwin Orr ; No.3 William Claus , who defeated Matthew King ; No.4 Oliver Pfarr , who defeated Jacob King ; and No.5 Huck Reynolds , who defeated Cooper Stinson . The No.2 doubles team of Carter Heath and Helms Sandel rounded out the victory by defeating Jake Meyerholz and Malakye Brewer . The success of the Landsharks’ tennis program–the girls team has won three state championships–moves the team forward, Lazano said. “It’s a tradition,” he said. We’ve had I think four or five more others who have moved on and are playing college tennis right now. That’s a big draw for those guys to see that and fill in the spaces.” For Clinton, a 2A school that competed among 3A teams all year, just reaching the final match of the year is a testament to the players’ hard work, Red Devils head coach Clovis Simmons said. “We were put in with 3A this year and that was kind of a shock, but I used it and told the guys that we’ll just have to be the 2A team that makes it the longest distance and hopefully win the 3A bracket,” Simmons said. “We fell short but at least we were here.”

Seahawk girls fall to St. James 38-34 in region opener 

By Billy G. Baker Publisher  Moncks Corner —The region winners in the AAAAA SCHSL football classification all received byes for the first round of the play-offs that started on November, 15 th so if any upsets are brewing involving the top seeded teams in the two divisions we will have to wait until Nov., 22 nd for that to possibly happen. In the Upper State AAAAA D-1 a bye went to number one rated Dutch Fork (9-0) and they will play the winner of the Boiling Springs (6-3) versus Dorman (6-3) in a week two in Irmo. Rock Hill (5-5) received a bye and they will play the winner of the Mauldin (2-8) versus River Bluff (8-2) game in week two. JL Mann (8-2) got a bye and they await the winner of the Blythewood versus Clover (7-3) game on Nov., 15. Number four- rated Spartanburg , fresh off a close game loss with rival Gaffney awaits the winner of Lexington versus Byrnes in week one. In Lower State Div. I Summerville (10-0) has a bye and they await the winner between Fort Dorchester and Stratford. Cane Bay , a winner over Berkeley last week, received a bye and they await the winner between Spring Valley and Ridge View. Carolina Forest has a round one bye and they await the winner between Wando and James Island . Highly regarded Sumter (9-0) has a first- round bye and they will host the winner between West Ashley and Ashley Ridge on Nov. 15. Now, we move on to Div. II AAAAA: In the Upper state number one rated Northwestern (10-0) will host the winner between Eastside and Indian Land on Nov., 15. Greenwood received a first- round bye and they will host the winner of the nation Ford versus Hillcrest first round game on Nov., 15. T.L Hanna earned a bye and they await the winner of the Woodmont versus Catawba Ridge winner in round two. Gaffney , fresh off of a come from behind win over Spartanburg that clinched the region title, awaits the winner of the Greenville versus Riverside game. In the Lower state Div. II AAAAA: Irmo (9-1), fresh off of a loss to Dutch Fork , awaits the winner between Goose Creek and Chapin in week one. West Florence has a week one bye and they will host the winner between Lucy Beckham and North Myrtle Beach in round two. Berkeley has earned a bye and they await the winner between Socastee and Westwood in round one. Finally, Myrtle Beach earned a first- round bye and they await the winner between Lugoff - Elgin and White Knoll from first round action. The HSSR predicts that Dutch Fork and Summerville will emerge as respective bracket winners in Div. I AAAAA and will meet in the gold medal round at South Carolian State University on Friday Dec., 13 at 2 p.m. Tom Knotts , the head coach at Dutch Fork, told the HSSR after his 24-14 big win over Irmo last week, ““I pay attention to Dutch Fork, but now that I’ve played Irmo, these are the two best teams in the state,” said Coach Knotts after the Irmo win. “They’re going to be in the smaller (school size) 5A and we’re in the larger 5A, so thank goodness we don’t have to play them again and they’re probably saying thank goodness they don’t have to play us again. “We like to get to this time of year, the kids behave better, they focus better, they lift better, they meet better,” Knotts said. “This is our time of year. We’re used to it.” Summerville head coach Ian Rafferty shared these thoughts about the play-offs, ““Unfortunately we will have to play some teams we’ve already seen in the playoffs but it is what it is,” said Coach Rafferty. “Against Fort Dorchester we did some uncharacteristic things on special teams and turned the ball over near the goal line, but moving forward the key is the way our guy’s work. We have kind of built a good mentality throughout the season and just work and show up to play on game night. Basically, we just need to be the Green Wave.” The Summerville offense spreads the ball around and the team suffered some key injuries on both sides of the ball this season so a lot of players have seen action and contributed to the second consecutive undefeated regular season. In Div. II AAAA, the HSSR predicts a Northwestern versus Gaffney final in the gold medal round scheduled for 06 p.m. on December, 14 at South Carolina State University. Gaffney head coach Dan Jones told the HSSR after his win over Spartanburg last week, “Coach Jones said that during the bye week Gaffney would stay focused on getting ready to compete in the second round of the play-offs on November, 22. “We will study film and lift weights on Monday but we will have three full practices on Tuesday through Thursday,” said Coach Jones. “We will be hard-at-work getting ready to play wither Greenville or Riverside.” For the regular season, the Gaffney offense produced 1,423 yards rushing and 1,849 yards passing and that defines a balanced attack on offense. Gaffney out-scored teams 275-139. Northwestern , led by veteran QB Finley Polk has dominated teams 514-158 this year. Head coach Paige Wofford has done a great job coaching the Trojans for the past several years and his team is expected to plow through the competition in the play-offs on the way to the finals.

By David Shelton Senior Writer Myrtle Beach – While much of the focus during October, in regards to high school sports, centers on region play for football, the rest of the fall sports teams around the state are focusing in on their respective upcoming state playoffs. October is certainly a busy month as non-football sports will begin and even conclude their playoffs during the month. Girls tennis, volleyball, swimming, girls golf and cross country are in the final stages of their regular season. As of this year, Myrtle Beach High is a member of Class AAAAA, up from AAAA. The competition level will increase but the Seahawks are expecting to compete in every sport during the postseason. The girls tennis program was a perennial state title contender in AAAA and should have a team capable of challenging in AAAAA. The best part about this team is their overall youth, which could make them a factor for years to come. This year’s team does have two starting seniors. Julianna Merritt plays No. 2 singles and Elizabeth Raynor plays the No. 5 singles. Sitting atop the singles ladder is sophomore Mary Hannah Morrison . Eighth-grader Elena Barnes plays the No 3 singles and sophomore Ava Anthony plays No. 4 singles. The volleyball team is in contention for a region title, sitting one game behind North Myrtle Beach . The Seahawks won six of their first seven region games, losing to their rivals from the North. Leading as seniors this season are Blake Carter , Sarah Lirijoni, Madison Brown and Sophia Fogarty . Juniors on the roster are Margaret Truluck , Trinity Owens , Samantha Scholz and Makenzie Trisler . Gabriella Fogarty and Emily Mullinix are the sophomores on the team. Rounding out the roster are freshmen Gianna Petruzzello and Anna Trisler , along with eighth-grader Dylan Roberts . In cross country, Anna Sedeska anchors the girls team as the top runner this fall. Riley Clements , Katherine Cooke and Isabelle Lowry round out the top four runners. Kai Wilmot is the top runner on the boys team, with Thomas Smith , Liam McGuire , Carson McGee and Ahmed Rahmouni rounding out the top five runners this season. Meanwhile, in football, the Seahawks began region play on Oct. 4 with a 36-6 win over St. James . That win improved the Seahawks to 3-3 overall this season. The Seahawks were slated to play Conway on Oct. 11.