Myers Park’s Mark Dillon wins NC 4A state title - just like his father once did
Like father, like son.
Myers Park senior Mark Dillon won the state 4A singles tennis championship Saturday – just like his father did more than 40 years ago.
Dillon, who finished second a year ago, dropped the first set but rallied to beat Peter Glenn of Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons in three sets.
Meanwhile, Newton-Conover junior Brann Reid captured his third consecutive 2A singles championship, winning in straight sets.
Dillon dropped the first set 4-6 to Glenn, in the title match at Millbrook Exchange Park in Raleigh, then rolled to a 6-1 victory in the second set. Glenn led 4-3 in the third set, but Dillon won three straight games for the state championship.
Dillon, who earlier this year won a prestigious Morehead Scholarship for the University of North Carolina, has been the No. 1 singles player at Myers Park since his sophomore year.
In that way, he was carrying on a tradition. His father, Mark Sr., and an uncle also played for the Mustangs. Mark Dillon Sr. won the 4A state singles title in 1977 and helped lead the Mustangs to the team championships in 1976 and ’77.
Dillon told WRAL’s High School Overtime that he stayed calm after falling behind in the third set.
“I just tried to treat it like it was the beginning of the match,” he said.
Dillon also said that after finishing second last year, “to be in a tight match and pull it out feels really great.”
Dillon opened the tournament Friday with a straight-set victory over Greensboro Grimsley’s Josh Knight, and won his quarterfinal match when opponent Revanth Bobba of Raleigh Enloe retired due to injury.
In Saturday morning’s semifinals, Dillon whipped Raleigh Sanderson’s Wyatt Cannon 6-3, 6-1.
Newton-Conover’s Reid is the first player to win three straight 2A championships since Will Rollinson of Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons (now a 4A school) in 2006-08.
He swept past Clinton’s Alexandre Haran 6-1, 6-0 in the finals.
Reid dominated the 2A tournament, going 8-0 in sets and 46-2 in games.
According to N.C. High School Athletic Association records, the only player to win four consecutive singles championships was Charlotte Catholic’s Kyle Johnson, from 2009-12.
The Salisbury team of Ethan McGee and Leo Schiavinato finished second, losing in the finals to Ledford’s Christ Hartzell and Brenner White 6-2, 7-5.
The Charlotte area had two other singles players and a doubles team that reached the semifinals – Mooresville Pine Lake Prep’s Tyler Ramanata in 1A and East Lincoln’s Joel Relter in 2A; and the Myers Park doubles team of Justin Simmons and Adam Solis.
State singles champions:
1A: Ryan Heider (Polk County); 2A: Reid; 3A: Banks Evans (Clayton); 4A: Dillon.
State doubles champions:
1A: Ronik Grewal and Sebastian Rodriguez (Durham Research Triangle); 2A: Hartzell and White (Ledford); 3A: Sam Jones and Foster Evans (Clayton); 4A: Vivek Ramesh and Vineet Ramesh (Cary Green Hope).
Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle