Polk trio notches third-place showings at conference tennis tourney

A trio of Polk County players earned top-three finishes Tuesday at the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference girls tennis tourney in Brevard.

Bella Sheffron topped teammate Sarah Vitale 6-3, 6-0 to win the third-place match while Polk’s Elizabeth Vitale and Cate Brown teamed to take third in doubles, downing Brevard’s Tia Shanor and Marley Stewart in that match.

The Wolverine players each qualified to compete in the 1A West Regional, set to be held Oct. 20 at Elkin Municipal Park. The top four qualifiers there will advance to the 1A state championship.

Sheffron earned a first-round bye, then defeated R-S Central’s Alyssa Nanney 10-8 in her quarterfinal match. That earned her a semifinal match against Hendersonville’s Anna Macdowell, who took a 6-0, 6-4 win.

Sarah Vitale also had a bye, then defeated Hendersonville’s Sophia Gallian 10-8 in her quarterfinal match. Vitale then fell 6-1, 7-5 to R-S Central’s Alexis Nanney in the semifinals.

Alexis Nanney went on to win the conference singles title.

Polk County’s doubles duo of Tali Thompson and Mia Wolfe claimed a 10-2 victory over Brevard’s Emma Harris and Ezra Ashworth before falling 10-1 in the quarterfinals to Hendersonville’s Eliza Perry and Ramsey Ross.

Elizabeth Vitale and Brown earned a hard-fought 11-10 (10-8 tiebreaker) win over East Rutherford’s Lily Wall and Lulu Price. That led to a semifinal encounter with Ross and Perry, who took a 6-0, 6-0 win en route to winning the conference doubles championship.