Polk County’s Sarah Vitale, Bella Sheffron and Cate Brown each returned Thursday from the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference tennis tournament in Brevard with conference runner-up finishes.
Vitale placed second in the singles tourney while Brown and Sheffron finished second in the doubles bracket, each also earning a berth in the 1A West Regional set for Friday and Saturday in Elkin.
Vitale received a first-round bye, then won a pair of matches to reach the tourney final. She defeated an East Rutherford player 6-1, 6-0 before topping Hendersonville’s Canaan Scroggs 6-1, 6-2. That moved Vitale into the final, where she fell 6-1, 6-1 to R-S Central standout Alexis Nanney, undefeated thus far this season.
Get PolkSports delivered to your inbox
Sign up for our free newsletter →
Polk’s Elizabeth Vitale also competed in the singles bracket, dropping both of her matches.
Much like Sarah Vitale, Sheffron and Brown also received a first-round bye in the doubles draw. They then won two matches in the championship bracket, first defeating R-S Central’s Layna Jeffords and Maeli Crain 6-2, 6-2, then outlasting Brevard’s Tia Shanor and Caroline Jenkins 6-3, 4-6, 11-9 (tiebreaker) to reach the championship match.
In the final, Sheffron and Brown encountered Hendersonville’s Raleigh Prichard and Reese Redden, 2A state semifinalists a season ago. The Bearcat duo won the match 6-2, 6-3.
Polk’s Mia Wolfe and Tali Thompson also took part in the doubles bracket and finished fifth overall, winning three of four matches. The team opened with a 8-0 victory an East Rutherford duo, then fell to Hendersonville’s Anna Macdowell and Sophia Gallian in the championship quarterfinals. Wolfe and Thompson rebounded, though, to win two matches in the consolation bracket and snare that fifth-place finish.
Polk County will conclude its regular season in the week ahead with three rescheduled matches, traveling Monday to Brevard for a doubleheader before hosting Hendersonville on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The Wolverines are expected to host their opening match in the state 1A dual team playoffs on October 21.
