Mount Pisgah wins first GHSA title

By Todd Holcomb

For the AJC

A team with only one senior, Mount Pisgah Christian won its first GHSA state championship in any sport Saturday at the Clayton County Tennis Center.

A private school that joined the GHSA five years ago, Mount Pisgah defeated Pace Academy 3-0 in the Class A girls championship match and finished an unbeaten season at 19-0.

In other finals, Brookwood’s boys in AAAAA won their first state title since 2000. Wesminster’s boys and Blessed Trinity’s girls won in AA. In Class A, Wesleyan’s boys won their first state title.

Mount Pisgah won its final easily, defeating Pace for the third consecutive time, but the championship required winning a semifinal 3-2 in the morning against Brookstone.

The match was 2-2 when Mount Pisgah put its hopes in the hands of a freshman, Aryn Greene, against Brookstone senior Katherine White, a Notre Dame signee who had won state titles with her team in 2008 and 2009.

Ranked 35th nationally among ninth-graders by tennisrecruiting.net, Greene won 6-7, 6-3, 6-1 in nearly three hours, then won 6-0, 6-0 in the final an hour later, finishing her unbeaten season.

‘’I loved everything being on me,’’ Greene said. “It was fun. I knew it was the last one. It made me want to win more.’’

In AAAAA, Brookwood beat Westlake 3-1 and finished 24-1 overall and 109-5 in individual matches. Randy Phillips at No. 1 singles, Will George at No. 3 singles and the freshman team of David Brown and Brandon Mills at No. 3 doubles got Brookwood’s wins. Westlake had won a 3-2 thriller in the semifinals against Northview.

In AA, Westminster’s boys won their 11th title in 12 seasons after falling short in 2010. Eugene Oh, Spain Short and Saharsh Chordia swept singles, each winning straight sets. Oh is a senior headed to MIT.

Blessed Trinity’s girls (19-5) won their third consecutive title in AA. Blessed Trinity (19-5) relied on the state’s No. 1 sophomore, Kourtney Keegan, and two top-20 juniors, Allison Kuse and Shannon Tooley. They each won in straight sets in the 3-0 victory over Westminster in the final.

Wesleyan’s victory in the boys A final was perhaps the most surprising result of the day. Wesleyan had lost twice to Pace 3-2, each time winning at No. 1 and No. 2 singles behind brothers Norman and Jeffrey Chang.

This time, Zach Taylor and Andrew Dorman avenged two losses and won 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 at No. 2 doubles.

‘’We knew the Chang brothers were going to win, so we just worried about our match,’’ Taylor said. “We just had to get rid of all the pressure and ignore the crowd.’’

It was Wesleyan’s 35th team state title since 2000. Wesleyan now has won state titles in 13 of the GHSA’s 21 team sports over the past 10 years.