For the second straight year, the Green Hope boys’ tennis team fell to Broughton in the quarterfinals of the NCHSAA 4-A dual team tournament.

It would have been a case of déjà vu for the Falcons had many members of the team been an active part of last year’s squad. But for a team that lost eight seniors from last year’s run, a 19-4 finish and identical advancement in the playoffs was a pleasant surprise.

“The main goal this season was to try to win the conference again and try to take care of that. We didn’t really know how far we could advance with a younger team,” said Green Hope coach Andrew Tuttle. “But to make it back as far as we did last year, basically getting to the same spot with kind of a whole new team and a lot of guys who stepped into the lineup and filled in those spots is amazing. Overall, I’m proud of what they’ve achieved.”

Broughton swept Green Hope 6-0 in a match that began May 20 at Cary Tennis Center and, because of thunderstorms, finished the next afternoon. The Falcons lost all six singles matches, but they hoped to steal at least two of them in order to give themselves a shot at the win in doubles play.

“We knew Broughton was a good team. We knew we would have to play our best to have a chance to bring it to doubles,” Tuttle said. “That was our goal, to at least take a couple of the singles and take it to doubles.”

But the Falcons failed to get the closely contested matches to force doubles play. Sophomore Jake Bowling, who lost in the semifinals of the NCHSAA 4-A singles tournament, lost to Broughton’s Jack Parks at No. 1 6-3, 4-6, 10-7, and sophomore Taylor Elliott lost 7-5, 4-6 at No. 2.

“We played close at the first two singles spots but didn’t get either one to go our way in the end, so they ended up getting the shut out,” Tuttle said. “It was a good match. We fought hard like we had all season. In the end we just got beat by a better team.”

Though the lack of experience finally caught up with the Falcons, the loss didn’t take away from the surprising accomplishments of Green Hope’s season.

“We weren’t supposed to make it this far,” said Kia Bazzaz. “Usually Green Hope is not the underdog, but this year we came in playing the role of the underdog, and I think we stepped in and we did well.”

Several factors contributed to Green Hope’s success with such a young team, Tuttle said.

Bowling’s transfer from Marietta, Ga., gave the team a huge boost, as Bowling immediately stepped in at No.1 and finished with a 25-6 record.

Also, the addition of freshman Luke Wickelgren, who competed at No. 3, gave the Falcons needed help at the top of the lineup. And the play of Eason Lee, Kevin Terrill and Bazzaz filled in voids left by departed seniors and provided leadership and experience on a young team.

All that helped give the Falcons confidence and a winning edge, Tuttle said.

Tuttle said he hopes the returning players will be able to get over the hump of the quarterfinal round next season. And according to Bowling, who still has two years in the program, the Falcons have a good shot at making that goal a reality.

“No one had big expectations coming into this season and we still made it this far,” Bowling said. “We’ll be a lot better team next year because we’ve got some good freshmen coming in next year and four returning starters in the lineup. We’ll have some seniors next year who will be good.”