Fit to be tied: Broadneck, Blair among three-way split for Md. 4A tennis title

“We were nervous at first, but now we’re pretty happy,” Blair sophomore Sophia Ge said after she and partner Esther Sax won a clutch consolation match to finish third. With their teammates, the duo spent the early part of the day analyzing the tournament brackets to find a path to the title.

“I feel like I just walked out of a math test,” Ge said, laughing. “I hurt more mentally. It was just so much stress.”

Junior Jerry Song, meanwhile, provided big points for Blair despite losing, 6-1, 6-0, to Quince Orchard’s Noah Lewis in the boys’ singles final.

Among the three teams that split the 4A title, only Broadneck took home a gold medal; sophomore Olivia Mellynchuk topped Whitman’s Victoria Alveberg, 6-3, 6-1.

After losing last year’s final, Mellynchuk tried a different tactic. Between every point, she turned to the fence to breathe and center herself.

“It helps me focus and regroup in between points and gives me a second to think about what’s going on,” she said. “I’m so glad that we ended with winning states. I know it’s with two other people, but we still did it.”

The Bruins also earned a runner-up finish in mixed doubles, with senior Elicia Aponte and junior Charlie Ernst falling, 6-3, 6-2, to Sky Carter and Brady MacBride of Walter Johnson. As the only team with two finals appearances in 4A, Broadneck did enough to secure its first state title.

In a repeat of last year, River Hill overwhelmed the 3A field with its talent and numbers.

Fielding players in four of the five finals, the Hawks, led by a grueling boys’ singles win for senior Alex Artazov, cruised to the title with 45 points. Centennial was second with 21.

“An undefeated season, I won all the trophies I could. I’m just glad I could do it,” Artazov said after he won a tiebreaker set against Towson’s Kevin Xie. “I was waiting for this moment the whole season.”

Earlier in the day, Poolesville stormed to another 2A title on the strength of a couple of victories in doubles. Carson Smith and Jeeva Padmanaban paired for the boys’ title and Suzy Xu and Kyra McGlinchey won the girls’ as the Falcons nearly tripled second-place Eastern Tech with 45 points.

“Because I’m a senior … I wanted to get as many points as a team,” said Xu, who opted to play doubles instead of singles to give her team the best chance of earning points. “I was really happy to come out with that kind of energy and go out in style.”