After advancing to the second day of competition, runs at a tennis state title came to an end Friday for doubles teams from Daviess County and Owensboro Catholic.
For the Panthers, the team of Chris Salamah/Dylan McDuffee continued an impressive showing at state by pulling off their second upset of the tournament. The DC junior/senior team rolled past No. 5 seed Luke McHale/David Schlachter of Covington Catholic for a 6-3, 6-3 victory to start the day — following up a first-round win over a No. 9 seed Thursday.
Salamah/McDuffee — who finished runner-up in the 3rd Region tournament — then hung with the overall No. 2 team of Justin Lee/Ben Rueff of Louisville Trinity, but ultimately lost 7-5, 6-4 in straight sets in the quarterfinal round.
The Owensboro Catholic girls’ duo of Sarah Englert/Ashley Fulkerson — playing as a No. 9 seed — were edged 7-5, 6-4 in the round of 16 by the No. 5 seed team of Michayla Gastos/Helena Weiss from Lafayette.
Englert/Fulkerson, both seniors, closed out the year strong by cruising to a 3rd Region tournament championship before easily winning two matches in the state tournament. The tandem lost only five total games out of four sets in a pair of day one victories before the narrow loss in the third round.
