Highland Tech girls tennis dynamo Madison Darnell makes history with NCHSAA state title

Madison Darnell created history in Gaston County on Saturday as she became the first tennis player to win a NCHSAA state individual title.

Darnell emerged victorious in the 1A girls singles category at Cary Tennis Park, defeating Manya Nallagangu of NC School of Sciences and Mathematics (NCSSM Morganton) in straight sets (7-5, 6-2).

Impressively, Darnell did not drop a set throughout her title-winning campaign. In addition to defeating Nallagangu, the Highland Tech sophomore also beat Elphie Spillman from Chatham Charter (6-3, 6-1) and her teammate Katelin Vaher (6-0, 6-1) in the semifinals.

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As the number one player for Highland Tech, Darnell has an impressive record of 15 wins out of 16 matches played. Her only loss was to Lauren Lucas of South Point in a thrilling three-set encounter (3-6, 6-1, 10-8).

Darnell is now aiming for team success as Highland Tech, ranked third, will face off against second-ranked Gray Stone Day in the regional semifinals of the 1A duals tournament.

Rennie Liu of Forestview narrowly missed out on joining Darnell in the history books. The senior standout from the Jaguars finished as the runner-up in the 3A singles category, losing to McKinley Battle from Rocky Mount in the final. During the weekend’s events at Burlington Tennis Center, Liu defeated Holland Ellis from Fike (6-0, 6-4), Anne Lieberman from Terry Sanford (6-1, 6-3), and Emma Shriver from Carrboro (6-1, 6-1).

Here’s how other players from the area performed at their respective state tournaments:

Singles

• Emma Carver, North Lincoln: Won her first-round match in the 3A category against Fike’s Kaden Biamby (6-0, 6-0) before losing in three sets to Luci Falls from Lake Norman Charter (1-6, 6-3, 7-5).

• Lauren Lucas, South Point: Won her first-round match in the 3A category against Reagan Owens from Hunt in straight sets (6-0, 6-0) before falling to Emma Shriver from Carrboro (6-2, 6-0).

• Anna Schweppe, Shelby: Won her match against Ellie Spear from Holmes in the 2A state tournament (6-2, 6-1) before losing in round 2 to Olivia Hankinson from Research Triangle in straight sets.

• Karsyn Sink, East Lincoln: Won her first-round match in the 3A category against Edith Young from J.H. Rose (6-3, 7-6) before falling to Battle from Rocky Mount (6-1, 6-1).

Doubles

• Mackenzie Pendleton and Zoe McCoy, Burns: The duo from Burns won their first-round match in the 2A category against Natalia Buchta and Cora Walker from Manteo (6-3, 6-2) before losing in three sets to Katherine Southern and Victoria Zhou from Research Triangle (6-7, 7-5, 6-4).

• Natalie Gore and Lulu King, North Lincoln: Fell to Caroline and Kathryn Adkins from Fike in the first round of the 3A doubles tournament (6-0, 6-1).

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: NCHSAA girls tennis: Highland Tech’s Darnell claims 1A state gold