Butler High star makes history at NCHSAA tennis state championships
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Butler High’s Kai Villagomez made school history Saturday.
Villagomez became the first N.C. High School Athletic Association boys’ tennis champion in school history after he beat Green Level’s Trishiv Premanand 6-2, 6-0.
Villagomez won a semifinal match, 6-4, 6-3, over Northwest Guilford’s Eshaan Dabadghav on Saturday morning. On Friday he won two matches, also in straight sets.
Villagomez is the second straight 4A state champion from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Providence’s Jack DiMenna won the 2024 championship. Before DiMenna, Myers Park’s Mark Dillon won in 2019. At the time, Dillon was the first CMS state champ in this event since Myers Park star Dennis Myers won in 2003.
▪ In the 4A doubles final, Panther Creek’s Ved Chotalia and Max Gao won the first doubles championship in school history, beating East Chapel Hill’s Owen Phillips and Carter Harris 6-2, 6-3.
▪ In 3A, Terry Sanford’s Drew Hedgecoe won his fourth straight singles title, becoming the second NCHSAA male athlete ever to accomplish that feat. Charlotte Catholic’s Kyle Johnson won four in a row from 2009-12. Hedgecoe beat Hickory’s Graham Powers, who was a two-time doubles champion.
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In Saturday’s doubles final, South Point’s James Dover and Rex Dover won the school’s first-ever individual state championship,beating East Lincoln’s Carson Brown and Lawson Miller 6-3, 6-2.
▪ Franklin High School produced singles and doubles champions in 2A. Alphonso Sison won his third straight singles title after a 6-3, 6-0 win over Pine Lake Prep’s Jackson Grathwohl. Derek Shute and Nick Delisio, who lost just eight games in four matches over championship weekend, took the doubles title, beating N.C. Science and Math’s Alfred Ye and Nimish Kadekar 6-3, 6-1.
▪ In 1A, Bishop McGuinness star Luke Ansari beat Eno River Academy’s Eli Edwards, 6-4, 6-2, to win the first boys’ singles title in school history. Twin brothers Conner and Aiden Ballard won their second straight doubles title, beating Eno River’s Nate Bermeo and Jake Kroothoep 6-4, 6-2.
