Dramatic doubles finals lift Rebels to state tennis title
DECATUR — The Vestavia Hills High School boys tennis team needed everything to break its way into the doubles finals.
The Rebels had a pair in the No. 2 and No. 3 brackets and found a way to win both of those finals. But they then had to have a Fairhope victory over Huntsville in the No. 1 bracket to earn the program’s first state title since 2014.
Fairhope dropped the first set before rallying to claim the final two sets and earn the match victory, giving Vestavia Hills the Class 7A state championship on Tuesday, April 23, at the Jimmy Johns Tennis Complex in Decatur.
“A rollercoaster is pretty much the only way I can think to describe it,” said fifth-year coach Nathan Miles.
The Nos. 2 and 3 doubles finals were being played on adjacent courts simultaneously, prior to the No. 1 final. Miles said a pivotal moment of those two matches came when the pair of Daniel Wheeler and Ethan Arrington won the first set 6-1 over a Mountain Brook duo. That lifted the spirits of George Fan and Jack Kimbrough, who had just lost the first set 6-1.
“It picked everyone up,” Miles said.
Wheeler and Arrington finished off the 6-1, 6-4 victory, while Fan and Kimbrough rallied to win 1-6, 6-2, 6-2, leaving the Rebels to watch with bated breath while the final doubles match was played.
Also winning singles titles for the Rebels boys were Fan and Gray Moore, as Vestavia Hills tallied 38 points to Huntsville’s 36. Fan won his No. 3 final 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, while Moore won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5.
Kimbrough advanced to the final at No. 6; Wheeler (No. 2) and Arrington (No. 4) were semifinalists, and Sam Smith was a quarterfinalist at No. 1. Smith and Moore made the quarterfinals in the No. 1 doubles bracket.
The Rebels finished the season unbeaten against in-state foes, winning the 7A, Section 3 tournament the previous week as well.
“The one thing I emphasized to our team is not to let up after our section, not to peak at section,” Miles said, “but to keep a sense of desperation and urgency with practice.”
Miles also gave credit to Matthew Saia, the team’s third senior along with Moore and Kimbrough, for providing “stability” and “leadership” throughout the season. Tim Hewitt was also mentioned by Miles for his help coaching the team. Junior Thomas Wade increased the team’s social media presence during the season and state tournament.
Miles took over the program in 2015 and said each senior class he has presided over deserves credit for laying a foundation and building upon it each season.
The Vestavia Hills girls finished as the runner-up in the 7A tournament, finishing with 40 points behind Mountain Brook, which scored 53 points to win for the third consecutive year.
Cindy Jiang and Elizabeth Ledbetter won singles titles for the Lady Rebels at the No. 2 and 6 positions, respectively. Maggie Nelson, Kristen Jebeles and Brittney Xu were finalists, and Kate Morros was a semifinalist. In doubles, Jebeles and Nelson made it to the final at No.1, and Ledbetter and Xu were finalists at No. 3.