AHSAA STATE TENNIS: LAMP boys, St. James girls earn state titles; MA boys finish second

The Montgomery Academy boys tennis team finished second in the Class 7A state tournament held in Mobile. (Contributed)

COMBINED REPORTS

The St. James girls and the LAMP boys won their respective divisions in the Class 4A-5A state tennis tournament at the Mobile Tennis Center on Tuesday. 

The Trojans won their first girls’ tennis title since 2003, edging Briarwood Christian by one point, 63-62. Sardis was third with 48 points, while Catholic and LAMP picked up two points each.

Olivia Willis and Bailey Woods won individual state championships for St. James at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively, while Emily Trock reached the finals before losing. In doubles, Trock teamed with Haley Hust to win No. 2 doubles, while Willis teamed with Davis Wilsford to win No. 3 doubles.

At No. 1 singles, Helen Johnston reached the quarterfinals before losing and at No. 2 Hust reached the second round before losing. At No. 3, Trock reached the finals before falling to Jesa Leigh Bonds of Sardis. At No. 4, Raliegh Court reached the semifinals before losing.

At No. 5, Willis defeated Donoho’s Bentlee Pahman 6-1, 6-0, to win the finals, while at No. 6, Woods remained unbeaten at 24-0, defeating Emma Ward of St. Michael 6-3, 7-6 (4).

In doubles, Court and Johnston lost in the No. 1 semifinals, Hust and Trock defeated Bailey Thompkins and Alisson Flores of Deshler 6-0, 6-3, in the finals and at No. 3, Willis and Wilsford defeated Briarwood’s Eva Leech and Camille Beason 6-0, 6-3.

LAMP’s Simone Allegro reached the second round at No. 1 singles to give the Golden Tigers their only points and Catholic’s Frances Ann Rogers reached the second round at No. 3 singles to give the Knights their only points.

In the boys’ competition, LAMP picked up its first 4A-5A state title since 2023 with three championships in singles and one in doubles, scoring 49 points to finish ahead of Deshler and Providence Christian, which each scored 42 points to finish tied for second.

At No. 3 singles, LAMP’s Eric Lin defeated Carsten Burks of Douglas 7-5, 6-2, at No. 5 singles Kangmin Park defeated Calvin Whitson of Deshler 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 and at No. 6 singles Eric Yun defeated Briarwood Christian’s Charlie Johnson 6-2, 6-3.

At No. 3 doubles, Richard Chen and David Bong teamed up to defeat Deshler’s Jake Hall and Brice Letson 6-3, 6-1.

BTW Magnet picked up four points in the state tournament with first-round wins by Saif Tanveer at No. 1 singles and Klein Reed at No. 6 singles.

St. James picked up four points in the state tournament with first-round wins by Hampton Johnson at No. 2 singles and Benjamin Patterson at No. 5 singles.

MA boys runner up in 7A finals

MOBILE -- Montgomery Academy’s Liam Baker and Bo Johnston won the finals of the No. 3 doubles at the Class 7A state tennis tournament on Tuesday, lifting the Eagles to a second-place tie with Hoover in their final 7A tennis competition at the Mobile Tennis Center.

The Eagles promoted from 1A-3A through Competitive Balance Factor, competed one last year in the state’s highest classification before next year’s classification separates private schools from public school competition.

The Eagles finished the 2026 season with a 15-2 regular season record, a 7A Section 2 championship and the Class 7A state runner-up trophy for the second consecutive year. Montgomery Academy was making its 35th consecutive appearance in the state tennis tournament.

Montgomery Academy, which finished second to Vestavia Hills last year, was in third place entering the final day of competition, but the No. 3 doubles title lifted them into a second-place tie with Hoover at 29 points behind Vestavia Hills at 35.

Anton Yang at No. 4 singles and Blevins Henderson at No. 6 singles also won individual state titles, while Johnston reached the finals before losing.

At No. 1 singles, senior Jackson Brown reached the semifinals before falling to Thomas Brutkiewcz of St. Paul’s. At No. 2, Baker lost in the first round. At No. 3 Duncan McInnes reached the semifinals before losing to Auburn High’s Tony Park.

At. No. 4, Yang won the championship with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Jason Wang of Auburn. At No. 5, Johnston lost in the finals to Hoover’s John Chen, 6-1, 6-4. At No. 6, Henderson defeated Hamp Holbert of Vestavia Hills, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

In doubles, Brown-Yang lost in the first round of No. 1 and Ford Morano-McInnes lost in the first round of No. 2 before Baker-Johnston defeated Kohen Hass and Patrick Wilson of St. Paul’s, 6-1, 6-1.

The Montgomery Academy girls weren’t as fortunate, scoring just two points and finishing seventh in the eight-team event.

At No. 6 singles, Sailor Vance reached the semifinals before losing to Huntsville’s Ali Meko, accounting for the only points scored by the Eagles.

Lola Campbell at No. 1, Alyssa Kaplan at No. 2, Mary Surhea White at No. 3, Charlotte Vann and No. 4 and Lillian Cameron at No. 5 all lost in the first round, as did the doubles teams of Campbell-Kaplan, Bailey Davis-White and Vance-Cameron.

Huntsville won the girls’ 7A state title, followed by Vestavia Hills.