Wakefield girls tennis
FILE PHOTO
Taylor Orlando (pictured) and her doubles partner Caroline Kohls are scheduled to participate
today's (Friday's) 4-A Mideast Regional held at the Cary Tennis Center.
Lady Wolverines compete
in tennis regional Friday
With their performances at last week's Cap-7 Conference tournament, five members of the Wakefield girls tennis team advanced to today's (Friday's) 4-A Mideast Regional held at the Cary Tennis Center.
Ally Prior, playing in singles' competition, and the doubles tandems of Shani Ervin and Alanna Albrecht and Taylor Orlando and Caroline Kohls are all slated to play in Cary. The contest kicks off at 2 p.m., although matches are not finalized until a coaches' meeting at 1 p.m.
The regional event comes three days after the Lady Wolverines' 6-0 defeat against Green Hope in the first round of the 4-A NCHSAA state playoffs.
Wakefield head coach Ken Stewart explained Wakefield battled closely with the Falcons, especially Orlando.
"She lost 7-6, 6-3, but she really should have won that first set," the coach said. "She played really well that day."
Stewart added the Falcons are a good threat to win the state title thanks to its No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, who are arguably the best in the state. (It should be noted Broughton is still the likely favorite for the championship though.)
Orlando and Kohls have a lot of momentum heading into the regional event after pulling out a win late in the league tournament.
After poor weather forced the tournament's second day of action to the Raleigh Raquetball Club, Orlando and Kohls fell behind early in their doubles match against Enloe.
But the duo picked up its aggressiveness, and staged a comeback win.
"We just pretended like we hadn't even played that first set," Kohls explained afterward.
The duo reasoned they might have been a little overconfident early, but they righted themselves to get the victory.
Playing indoors took a little getting used to, they added.
"We slipped a lot, and it seemed like the ball wouldn't go as far," Orlando said. "And if the ball hit the line, you didn't know where it was going to go."
Added Kohls, "It played slower than I thought."
Prior and Wakefield's two doubles teams will not be seeded at the regional, which means they have their work cut out to advance, according to Stewart. In addition to the Cap-7 Conference, the Pac-6 and Tri-9 also competes at Friday's regional.
