Qiancheng Sun and the doubles team of Balee Wilson and Vidhi Patel of Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science won Class I state titles on Wednesday at the MHSAA Tennis Championships in Oxford.
Sun, the top seed at boys singles, lost just six games in three victories. He started on Tuesday with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Jared Liles of Bruce. On Wednesday, he took care of Resurrection Catholic’s Ethan Keenum 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals before posting a 6-3, 6-0 win over second-seeded Jack Posey of Sacred Heart to win the championship.
At girls doubles, Wilson and Patel opened the tournament on Tuesday with a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash of Tayler Hardy and Maggie McLeod of Pisgah. They followed that with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sacred Heart’s Samantha Alliston and Ava Norval.
Wilson and Patel came back Wednesday to knock off the top seeds, Katie Palmer and Caroline Batson of Sacred Heart 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals before claiming the championship by defeating Emily Upchurch and Avery Lindsey of Tupelo Christian Prep 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, [10-6].
The Blue Wave’s boys doubles tandem of Nicholas Popescu and Gordon Welch reached the semifinals before Sam Wiseman and Eric Frohn of Tupelo Christian Prep handed them a 4-6, 6-4 [10-6] defeat.
Popescu and Welch opened with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Brad Garner and Cooper Freeman of Mize, then defeated Christopher Posey and Hayes Burks of Sacred Heart 0-6, 7-6 (7-5) [10-7].
Meanwhile, Caledonia’s Sunny Logan took the first two steps toward winning another Class 4A girls singles title. The top-seeded Logan, who has committed to playing tennis at William Carey University, cruised past Kelia Griffin of Clarksdale and Noelle Howell of West Lauderdale by identical 6-0, 6-0 scores on Wednesday.
The three-time champion will face fourth-seeded Niyah Strickland of Quitman in Thursday’s semifinals with the final to follow.
Caledonia’s boys doubles entry of Jorsen Neyman and Caleb Loftis were eliminated in the opening round by fourth-seeded William Dedeaux and Tucker Smith of Stone County 6-2, 6-3.
Noxubee County had three entries in the Class 3A field. Tallas Brown was eliminated by Spencer Baggett of Clarkdale 6-1, 6-1 on Tuesday in boys singles, the same day the mixed doubles team of Trinity Freeman and Ryan Butler fell 6-1, 6-0 to Breton Descher and Molly Bowen of St. Patrick. At girls singles, Tarijii Short ran into second-seeded Ally Everett of Wesson in the round of 16 and lost 6-0, 6-0.
The Class 6A and Class 5A tournaments open play Thursday. Starkville’s Drew Lockhart will open 6A boys singles play against Northwest Rankin’s James Pacelli.
In Class 5A, Jeremyah McDaniel of Columbus drew second-seeded Sylvester Cannon of Cleveland Central in his opening match, New Hope’s No. 2 seed Hannah East will start the girls singles draw against Alexa Wells of Florence, and the New Hope mixed doubles team of Jackson Grady and Ella Sylvest will face Laurel’s Jaythan Comegys and Neveah Gressett.
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