Lake Norman Charter extends win streak, captures third straight NC dual-team tennis title

Lake Norman Charter won its 51 straight N.C. dual-team tennis match and won the N.C. High School Athletic Association state championship Saturday.

N.C. School of Science and Math was runner-up for the sixth straight season, two in 1A and the last four in 2A, with a 5-3 loss to the Knights. It was Lake Norman Charter’s third straight title.

NCSSM (10-1) got a gutsy effort just to force doubles. Lake Norman Charter (16-0) led 3-1 thanks to wins by No. 1 Olivia Archer won 6-0, 6-0 over Vinitha Ravindran, No. 2 Lauren Bush won 6-0, 6-2 over Grace Miller and No. 4 Zoe Panizza won 6-1, 6-3 Ellen Yu. NCSSM’s No. 6 Tanisha Paul won 6-4, 6-1 over Nithya Sampath.

The Unicorns won two third-set tiebreakers: No. 3 Adithi Rao 2-6, 6-4 (10-1) over Lauren Loveless and No. 5 Emma Wright 6-4, 0-6 (12-10) over Annie Thomas.

Archer and Panizza won 10-0 at No. 1 doubles on Ravindran and Miller, while Bush and Loveless clinched the match at No. 2 with a 10-2 victory over Yu and Wright.

This story was originally published November 12, 2016 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Lake Norman Charter extends win streak, captures third straight NC dual-team tennis title."