MORGANTOWN — The 2024 WVSSAC state tennis tournament will be held today through Saturday at the Kanawha City Community Center and the YMCA in the capital city of Charleston.
Morgantown and University high schools will have both boys and girls competing this weekend for the chance to capture individual championships and a potential team title.
For the University High girls’ team, the 2023 Class AAA state champions will aim to defend their team state championship. Lyla Byers and Emma Rusiecki will each also compete in the individual singles bracket.
“For the girls to repeat, we will need strong play from Lyla and strong play from two and three doubles,” UHS head coach Tom McClellan said. “I just want them to stay focused on the basics, execute and play for one another.”
For the UHS boys, freshman Kalman Nagy qualified for the individual tournament as the Class AAA Region I champion. He will be joined by Andrew McClellan for the doubles side of the competition.
“Kalman has been improving well throughout the year adjusting to the new level of tennis,” McClellan said. “He has a tough draw but if he hits away he may have a shot at getting deep into the tournament. He and Andrew are a strong doubles team who also have a tough draw, but one of their best matches of the year came against Hurricane, who is one of the best teams in the state.”
The Morgantown girls’ team also qualified for the team bracket with Maya Greenlee being the lone qualifier for the individual singles competition. She will also enter the doubles tournament with her partner Anika Chadha.
“We always strive to be playing our best tennis towards tournament time,” MHS girls coach Ted Greenlee said. “Despite some injuries, we did well at regionals and hope to peak this weekend. Regionals showed us anything can happen on any day. We beat UHS 5-2 during the regular season then lost 4-1. I will tell them to focus on every single point but to also relax and enjoy the experience.”
The Mohigan boys’ team will make the trip after winning the Region I team title. Three players will enter the individual competition with Wyatt Abbitt, Solas Chinn-Kreiner and Larry Du all securing their places. Abbitt will be joined by partner Max Chen for the doubles competition as the Region I champions.
“The weather in spring made it difficult to gain some traction this season so we missed some matches, but we aren’t as sore or banged up as usual,” MHS boys’ coach Sam Hall said. “Despite that, the boys have continued to work hard and are trying to peak at the right time. For us, the state tournament is about having fun within our tennis community. We are relatively young with five of our seven being sophomores or freshmen and the potential of this team is tremendous.”
Play will begin each day at 8 a.m. from both the KCCC (outdoors) and the YMCA (indoors). Both sites will be utilized Thursday and Friday with the Saturday matches all being held at KCCC, weather permitting.
