In the marquee match of the afternoon, Hoggard senior McKayla Zupan faced, first the third time this season New Hanover junior Campbell Cooper. The two local tennis standouts traded jabs in the first set with Zupan coming out on top 6-4. Tuesday’s competition was held at the Althea Gibson Tennis Complex at Empie Park.
Heading into the 2nd set, Hoggard Coach Michael Bowen had some words of advice for McKayla as court one played noticeably slower than some of the other surfaces she’s competed on this year, “With McKayla’s match, she had to realize that this was a slower court than what she’s used to playing on, so the adjustment was that she needed to stretch out the points and play more conservative.” The 2011 State finalist then dominated the 2nd set to win 6-4, 6-1.
Campbell Cooper defeated Zupan at the Port City Tennis Tournament in August, but McKayla avenged her loss to Cooper last week in a straight set victory and proved to be the stronger competitor again Tuesday.
The Vikings ended up taking 5 out of 6 singles matches to beat the Wildcats, 8-1. Hoggard won their third straight match to improve to 6-2 on the year, while New Hanover dropped its second match of the season to the Vikings to fall to 5-3.
Up next for McKayla and her Viking teammates is another Mid-Eastern conference rival in Laney, next Tuesday (9/18). Coach Michelle Cooper’s New Hanover squad is back in action at home this Thursday (9/13) against Ashley.
Other Girls Tennis results:
Laney 7 Ashley 2
