On May 11, the boys’ tennis team won the state championship, defeating Mt. Vernon. The team traveled to Berry College’s tennis center for the showdown.

The boys’ team powered through their matches, winning 3-2. Their line-up featured junior Luis Weers and sophomores Murray Ellington and John Courtnay at number-one, two and three singles respectively, as well as sophomore Felipe Selle and senior Nicolas Ntayagabiri at number-one doubles and freshman Grady Ferguson and senior Asa Shepard at number-two doubles.

The first match to finish was played by Selle and Ntayagabiri, who swept their opponents 2-0 in the number-one-doubles match.

“It was a tough match, but we came out with the 2-0 win. Our dedication to win paid off,” Ntayagabiri said. “I think that’s the reason we won against such a talented group of players.”

The final game was played by Ellington. The match lasted for three hours with Ellington coming out triumphant 2-1.

“It was a good match. There were a lot of close points. My opponent had to adapt to that,” Ellington said. “I knew I was ready just because of the training and everything I have been doing.”

Ntayagabiri and Weers described Ellington as someone who doesn’t give up and “clutched the win in the end.”

“It’s very hard to beat someone as skilled and dedicated as [Ellington]. He is an elite player, and he has the potential to go very far in his career,” Ntayagabiri said.

The team worked to cross the finish line with the help of new arrivals and returning players alike.

“We really had a strong season. We had a lot of people step up to take the place of people who we expected to come back that did not come back,” Head Coach Betina Fuentes said. “We were kind of rebuilding the first half of the season, and then we hit our strong point half way through the season and just cruised from there. We did not really have a lot of strong leaders at the beginning, and we had two people that kind of came through as leaders by the end of the season: John [Courtnay] and Murray [Ellington]. They were always hyping people up, making sure everybody was where they were supposed to be and working with each other and the other teammates to help them develop skills and practice.”

For some, like Ferguson, it was their first season playing tennis in high school.

“It was very fun to see all of the hard work pay off,” Ferguson said. “I was nervous but confident in the ability of the team.”