High school girls tennis: West wins small-world playoff match
Published 4:55 pm Thursday, October 19, 2023
- West coach John Brown, photo by Wayne Hinshaw; for the Salisbury Post
By Mike London
[email protected]
MOUNT ULLA — West Rowan freshman Olyvia Brown and Pisgah senior Anna Shepard squared off at No. 3 singles in the first round of the 3A dual team tennis playoffs.
It was one of those truth-is-stranger-than-fiction moments.Wednesday’s match was proof that it’s a small world, after all.
Their fathers go way back.
Olyvia’s father is John Brown, who coaches wrestling and girls tennis for the Falcons. Anna’s father is Harold Shepard, the baseball and girls tennis coach at Pisgah and the associate AD.
At Western Carolina in the 1990s, Brown and Shephard were suitemates.
“We played Pisgah years ago, lost 5-4 at their place, and I saw Harold then,” Coach Brown said. “I was kind of surprised to see he was still at it. Tennis coaches don’t usually stay around all that long.”
Olyvia Brown played No. 4 most of the season for the Falcons, but has moved up to No. 3 for the last few matches. She won 6-1, 6-1 and helped the Falcons roll 6-3.
It was only the second time in program history the Falcons (16-2) have won a playoff match.
Also winning in singles for West were Autumn Yount, Emma Crider, Lucy Moore and Ally Suggs. They also won handily in straight sets.
The only singles loss for West was at No. 6 where Laney Moore lost a tight one that could’ve gone either way.
When a match is decided after singles in the playoffs, team don’t normally play doubles, but Coach Shepard requested before the match that doubles be played whether they were needed to determine a winner or not, and Coach Brown agreed.
West doesn’t have any doubles teams in the upcoming individual regionals — Yount qualified in singles — but the Falcons were happy to get in some doubles practice for their next dual team match.
Yount and Lucy Moore lost 8-6 at No. 1 doubles and Suggs and Laney Moore lost 8-6 at No. 3 doubles. Crider and Brown rolled 8-0 at No. 2 doubles.
Next for 11th-seeded West is a second-round match at sixth-seeded Piedmont (12-2). That will take place on Monday or Tuesday.
The individual regionals are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, but if weather knocks out Friday’s action, the regionals will become a Saturday and Monday affair.
If the 3A Midwest Regional in Huntersville gets pushed back to Monday, the second round of the dual team playoffs will be moved back to Tuesday.
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Carson missed injured No. 1 player Allie Martin and lost 6-0 at North Buncombe.
South Rowan lost 9-0 at Montgomery Central.
In 2A, fifth-seeded Salisbury (14-2) had a first-round bye and will host 12th-seeded Pine Lake Prep (10-3) in the second round.
ear to long-time Pisgah coach Harold Shepard.
He’s been at Pisgah for 14 total years, including taking over as varsity baseball coach in 2010 and girls tennis coach in 2014. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out most of the spring season, Shepard has kept the Bears’ baseball field in top shape, and has prided himself in being able to treat the field to avoid rain outs in North Carolina’s temperamental spring weather.
Now, Shepard will be tasked with the upkeep and, if necessary, upgrading, of all of Pisgah’s athletic facilities. As Pisgah’s new athletic leadership team was approved last week, Shepard will be the Bears’ associate AD and facilities supervisor, alongside fellow associate Brandon Holloway and new AD Heidi Morgan.
When Casey Kruk left Pisgah to be Canton Middle School’s new principal, Shepard knew he wanted to be involved in the new leadership group in some fashion. He got his wish, and is eager to follow in the footsteps of Kruk and David Pressley, who he credits with developing him into the leader he is today.
“It’s exciting,” Shepard said. “That’s the thing that all three of us said after we came together as a trio. This is really exciting. We have the ability with all three of our strengths to take Pisgah to the next level. That’s our goal and our intent is that we’re going to try to improve on the areas that need improving.”
Shepard spent a brief time at Pisgah as JV baseball coach in 2000, before going to coach baseball and football at Canton Middle School until 2007. He then returned to Pisgah and served a few more years as JV baseball coach before taking over his varsity programs.
Under Shepard’s guidance, the girls tennis team has become a well-respected program in western North Carolina, and the baseball team has made the playoffs every year except 2012 (every year not cut short by a global pandemic, that is). He’s looking forward to working with his “teammates” to ensure the success of every