Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MOBILE – The Pelham Panthers, Helena Huskies and Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights ended the tennis season with a bang as they made deep runs at the 2025 AHSAA State Tennis Championships for Class 6A and 1A-3A from April 21-25 at the Mobile Tennis Center.

Pelham’s Sipho Mashego made a deep run all the way to the semifinals of the boys No. 1 bracket. After a first-round bye, he defeated Pell City’s Brady Johnson in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, before beating McGill-Toolen’s Austin Jackson with a pair of 6-3 set wins to reach the semifinals.

From there, he lost to eventual state champion Thomas Austin of Mountain Brook by scores of 6-1 and 6-2 in the semifinals.

Pelham also had a semifinal run in the No. 1 girls bracket as Allyson Pieper made it to the final four. She rolled past Homewood’s Madeleine Ann Brockwell in the first round by scores of 6-1 and 6-4 before a victory over Helena’s Ashtyn Lackey in the quarterfinals in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.

Pieper’s singles run ended in the semifinals with a pair of 6-0 defeats to UMS-Wright’s Sarah Ladd.

Helena’s Eva Stokes made the semifinals in the girls No. 5 bracket. She earned two victories in the build-up to the loss against Mountain Brook’s Mary Margaret Malatesta, including a quarterfinal win over Pell City’s Sarah Lonergan by scores of 6-4 and 6-2.

Pelham’s Kylee Hester made a run to the girls No. 6 semifinals. She beat McAdory’s Kylan Bates without dropping a game before beating Northridge’s Madison Dunn by scores of 6-1 and 7-5. She lost to Muscle Shoals’ Rylee Collins in straight sets in the semifinals, 6-4, 6-2.

Hester and Pieper made history as the first Panthers to reach the semifinals in over 15 years.

Helena had three more athletes reach the quarterfinals in Avery Adair, Gabriel Two Bears and Colin Baggett.

Adair defeated Gadsden City’s Olivia Reynolds in a 10-4 third-set tiebreaker to make the girls No. 4 quarterfinals. Two Bears reached the boys No. 5 quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Hazel Green’s Greycen Howard. Baggett defeated Trinity Presbyterian’s Hall Collett in straight sets by scores of 6-3 and 6-2 to make the boys No. 6 quarterfinals.

Over in doubles, Pelham’s Mashego and Jacob Lee reached the quarterfinals of the boys No. 1 flight with a 6-2, 6-2 win over UMS-Wright’s Robert Maurine and Hayes Giddens.

Helena had two sets of doubles make the quarterfinals in Lackey and Elizabeth Stokes in the No. 1 girls bracket while Andy Marshall and Asher Eaton won a match in the boys No. 2 bracket.

Lackey and Stokes needed a third-set tiebreaker to beat Hazel Green’s Whitney Blair Butler and Kathryn Salazar but won it by a score of 10-5 after splitting a pair of 6-2 sets. Marshall and Eaton won their match against Southside’s Steven Brown and Miles Wheeler by a score of 6-0 and 6-1.

Down in Class 1A-3A, Westminster OM had multiple deep runs into the brackets.

Drake Oliver reached the boys No. 2 singles semifinals with two wins in the tournament. He defeated Northside Methodist’s Daniel Brown in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0, before dominating the quarterfinal matchup against Westbrook Christian’s Jake Gregerson without dropping a game.

Wesley Eyrich also made a semifinal run within the No. 3 bracket. After a first-round bye, he defeated Excel’s Bradley Sewell by a score of 6-1 and 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Palmer Hicks made the boys No. 1 quarterfinals by defeating Alabama Christian’s Jiwu Kim by scores of 6-0 and 6-3 to win in straight sets in the first round.

Joe DeVries reached the quarterfinals in the No. 5 bracket thanks to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Lee-Scott’s Hayden Kelly in the first round.

Each of Westminster’s double pairings earned wins in their respective brackets to reach the quarterfinals.

Hicks and Oliver were victorious in the No. 1 bracket with a third-set tiebreaker against Bayside Academy’s Montgomery Beall and Eli Williams. Westminster won the first set 7-5 before losing 6-4 in the second set.

That set the stage to a 10-3 third-set win to advance to the quarterfinals, where they would lose 7-5 and 7-6 in a tight matchup with Tuscaloosa Academy’s Holman Bearden and Jonni Kneer.

Eyrich and Jack Purcell defeated Excel’s Jason Pena and Zidane Rodrigues by a score of 6-4, 6-1 to win in straight sets in the No. 2 doubles first round.

DeVries and Cooper Rehberg secured a pair of 6-4 set victories against Excel’s Bradley Sewell and Barfield Will to advance to the No. 3 doubles quarterfinals.