CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The George Washington boys remember all too well how it felt when last season ended abruptly and prematurely in a hard-fought semifinal loss to Woodrow Wilson.
The Huntington girls remember the ending to 2025 as well and for entirely different reasons, as they outlasted Morgantown, 4-3, for their 15th state championship.
On Friday, both programs produced desired endings at the Charleston Catholic Athletic Complex as the Patriots defeated Parkersburg 4-2 for their first crown since 2021, while the Highlanders secured a repeat title by defeating Morgantown, 4-1.
“It was heartbreak for us,” GW coach Emily Thayer said while recalling how 2025 concluded. “We knew we had a chance to be a No. 1 seed again this year. We have a really young team without any seniors, and we knew we’d have a challenge with some teams like Parkersburg, University and Morgantown, but we’re deep enough that if we played well, we’d be hard to beat.”
The Highlanders were pushed to the limit last season by Morgantown, and while challenged again this time around, they had an easier go of it outdoors as opposed to in 2025 when matches were held inside the Charleston Tennis Club.
“The big message in the group last night was how the best thing about this group is a willingness to compete,” Huntington coach T.J. Cisco said. “That’s no matter how tough of a position they’re put in whether it’s weather, lineup changes, injuries or having exams and projects, the willingness to show ups and compete.”
The Highlanders got off to the exact start they hoped to when Samantha Mercer and Olivia Akers teamed for a dominating 8-0 win in No. 1 doubles against Maya Greenlee and Anika Chadha.
That helped set a tone that teammates Julia Leacha and Charris Goodwin followed through on with an 8-3 win over Natalia Cassim and Annabelle Goodykoontz.
“Starting at the top with our captain Olivia Akers, it sets a standard to the girls that when you put the work in, you can rely on the training when these moments pop up,” Cisco said. “Fortunate to have our No. 2 doubles follow and add to our lead, and that gave us two points that were important.”
Tina Chen and Rebecca Chen’s 8-5 win over Isabella Dickerson and Gracie Dickerson enabled Morgantown to produce a point entering singles, but it wouldn’t generate another.
Instead, Mercer’s 8-1 win over Greenlee, combined with Akers’ 8-1 triumph against Cassim, were enough to end the matchup prematurely without the other two singles matches finishing, one of which never started.
“We knew they were good and we needed to be ready,” Cisco said.
The GW boys were also plenty ready and scored the first point when the duo of Alexander Michael and Ali Elkhansa secured an 8-5 tone-setting win against Christian Marshall and Alex Marshall of the Big Reds.
“We had beaten them at conferences, but I knew the doubles point would be huge here,” Elkhansa said. “I knew I had to bring my ‘A’ game to win that match.”
The Big Reds got even and scored their first point when Cole Stutler and Isaac Stephens defeated Anshuman Haricharan and Isaac Street 8-3, but GW gained the 2-1 lead when the freshman duo of Vibhuman Haricharan and Luke McCallister claimed an 8-4 win against Thomas Lindenmuth and John McLean.
In singles play, Michael’s 8-1 win against Christian Marshall moved GW to within one point of victory, but Stutler won a lengthy and hard-fought match in No. 2 singles against Anshuman Haricharan, 9-8 (7-5).
“Both the freshmen had nerves, but they were strong from the start and didn’t let up,” GW coach Taylor Rose said. “It was huge having two points going into singles and then Alex winning and putting us in a position to where we just needed to win one more.”
Elkhansa then finished things off by defeating Alex Marshall, 8-3.
“The hard work paid off,” Michael said. “It’s way better than last year going out like this.”