CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some 30 hours earlier, Logan’s girls tennis team had fallen just short in its quest for the Class AA/A state championship in a 4-3 loss to Williamstown.
With an opportunity to lay claim to the state’s top doubles duo in that classification, the Wildcats’ Jada Adkins and Shelby Mullins wouldn’t be denied.
Seeded second, Adkins and Mullins worked their way into the final of the eight-team bracket and faced Charleston Catholic’s Stella Bailey and Alyssa Hanna.
In a back-and-forth affair, Adkins and Mullins persevered down the stretch to earn a 6-4, 3-6, (10-3) victory.
“Friday was definitely disappointing how close we were, but at the end of the day, you have to move on from wins and losses and focus on what’s in front of you,” Mullins said.
Adkins, a junior, and Mullins, a sophomore, saved some of their best tennis for the super tiebreaker, overcoming a valiant effort from the Irish duo to create a better feeling than Friday’s ending in the team portion of the event.
“Over the summer, I made sure I worked hard in these conditions, especially being so hot. It got to the point where you focus on you, your doubles partner and the ball,” Mullins said. “When it gets to that point, nothing can get in your way.”
Mullins felt plenty of previous challenges leading up to Saturday allowed her and her teammate to be at their best when it mattered most.
“We played a pretty tough schedule and made sure we were ready for this moment,” Mullins said. “In the state championship, you’re going to play tough opponents. We played big schools and once we realized we were dominating those big schools, we were like, ‘we really have a shot’, and that’s when we put the foot on the gas and really worked hard for what we wanted.”
In Class AAA, Huntington’s Baby Jones continued her dominant ways. A few hours after the Dayton-bound Jones secured the singles title, she joined forces with Olivia Akers to post a 6-1, 6-0 victory against George Washington’s Nadia Orcutt and Riya Jones.
Jones had defeated Akers in a semifinal round singles match earlier in the event, but as a doubles duo, the pair posted consecutive 8-0 victories before having their way again in the final.
It capped a successful state for the HHS girls, which topped Morgantown 4-3 to secure the team title Friday.
Team dominance that spilled into Saturday was also a theme for both Charleston Catholic and Hurricane’s boys programs.
Minutes before leaving for prom, Nick Giatras and Ethan Bastin prevailed in a thrilling Class AA/A final against a pair of teammates, freshmen Abdul Bali and Winston Hunter. Giatras — the Class AA/A singles champion — and Bastin were pushed to the limit, but victorious in a super tiebreaker, 6-3, 1-6, (10-8).
Both the Giatras/Bastin and Bali/Hunter duos were largely unchallenged until the final. It continued a busy weekend for the CCHS boys program, which was dominant Friday in defeating Williamstown for the team title and then had Giatras defeat Hunter earlier Saturday in the singles final.
Like Giatras, Hurricane’s Jacob Smolder was a singles champion earlier Saturday in Class AAA, which followed his strong showing Friday that helped the Redskins defeat Woodrow Wilson for the team title.
Smolder was also part of a winning doubles team as he and teammate Kellen Pauley topped Woodrow Wilson’s Ram Asaithambi and Ethan Shepard 6-4, 6-3.
“I feel like I’m more of a doubles player,” Pauley said. “I just have a lot more fun and I enjoy having a teammate lift me up if I’m doing bad or getting each other hyped up. It makes it a lot more fun and what I enjoy is doubles.
“You have to be mentally strong. The heat can get to you and there’s been some long days out here and in general, it’s a long weekend.”
Pauley felt his connection with Smolder, who will next play tennis at Fairmont State, gave the pair a major edge.
“It’s built off of friendship. We’ve been friends for 10-plus years and we don’t even really have to talk anymore,” Pauley said. “We know what each other are going to do and we let each other do our thing.”