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Blair, Broadneck among three-way tie for Maryland 4A tennis title

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There was a long line of players waiting to take a photo with the first-place trophy after the Maryland 4A state tennis championships Saturday. Three teams’ worth, in fact.

After a long day of matches at Baker Park in Frederick, Blair, Broadneck and Urbana wound up tied for the team title. The Blazers didn’t win any of the brackets, but their young squad earned 21 points to gain a share of the championship.

“We were nervous at first, but now we’re pretty happy,” Blair sophomore Sophia Ge said after she and Esther Sax won a clutch consolation match to finish third. With their teammates, the duo spent the early part of the day analyzing the tournament brackets to find a path to the title.

“I feel like I just walked out of a math test,” Ge said, laughing. “I hurt more mentally. It was just so much stress.”

Junior Jerry Song, meanwhile, provided big points for Blair despite losing, 6-1, 6-0, to Quince Orchard’s Noah Lewis in the boys’ singles final.

Among the three teams that split the 4A title, only Broadneck took home a gold medal; sophomore Olivia Mellynchuk topped Whitman’s Victoria Alveberg, 6-3, 6-1.

After losing last year’s final, Mellynchuk tried a different tactic. Between every point, she turned to the fence to breathe and center herself.

“It helps me focus and regroup in between points and gives me a second to think about what’s going on,” she said. “I’m so glad that we ended with winning states. I know it’s with two other people, but we still did it.”

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The Bruins also earned a runner-up finish in mixed doubles, with senior Elicia Aponte and junior Charlie Ernst falling, 6-3, 6-2, to Sky Carter and Brady MacBride of Walter Johnson. As the only team with two finals appearances in 4A, Broadneck did enough to secure its first state title.

In a repeat of last year, River Hill overwhelmed the 3A field with its talent and numbers.

Fielding players in four of the five finals, the Hawks, led by a grueling boys’ singles win for senior Alex Artazov, cruised to the title with 45 points. Centennial was second with 21.

“An undefeated season. I won all the trophies I could. I’m just glad I could do it,” Artazov said after he won a tiebreaker against Towson’s Kevin Xie. “I was waiting for this moment the whole season.”

Poolesville stormed to another 2A title on the strength of victories in doubles. Carson Smith and Jeeva Padmanaban paired for the boys’ title and Suzy Xu and Kyra McGlinchey won the girls’ as the Falcons finished with 45 points, nearly three times as many as second-place Eastern Tech.

“Because I’m a senior . . . I wanted to get as many points [as possible] as a team,” said Xu, who opted to play doubles instead of singles to give her team the best chance. “I was really happy to come out with that kind of energy and go out in style.”



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