Apex senior Viking Edeback and sophomore Wesley Barrett won the Mideast Regional doubles championship on Saturday at Optimist Park in Raleigh.

Seeded No. 3, the duo won their four matches, dropping only one set along the way.

“We played solid,” Barrett said. “I think we played aggressive and played smart and we were focused, especially in the finals.”

In Friday’s first round, Barrett and Edeback beat Broughton’s Hank Warren and Tyler Wicker 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. It was the only one of their four matches in which they lost a set.

After getting pushed to three sets in their tournament opener, the Apex pair made quick work of East Chapel Hill’s Michael Goldstein and Kassim Alani, defeating them 6-2, 6-2.

“Once they got through the tough match against Warren and Wicker from Broughton, it gave them some momentum and they wanted to play well against [Sean] Weber and [Jeff] Cobb,” Phelps said. “They were looking forward to that match.”

On Saturday, Barrett and Edeback disposed of Weber and Cobb, Millbrook’s No. 1 doubles team, 6-3, 6-0, avenging a loss to them during the regular season.

“I think losing to them the first time gave us extra motivation to come and play solid when we played them again,” Edeback said.

They ran into another familiar foe in the final, Broughton’s Jack Parks and J.B. Weaver, whom Barrett and Edeback beat earlier in the year.

Saturday’s meeting was no different. Barrett and Edeback clinched the regional title with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. “We came out and took the first couple of games. They got frustrated and we kind of took control,” Barrett said. “We started playing so well, they couldn’t break us and we were breaking them.”

In the singles draw, Green Hope’s Jake Bowling gritted his way to the regional final but came up short against Chapel Hill’s Andrew Malizia, 6-3, 6-2.

Tri-Eight singles champion Roman Cacha won his opening-round match 6-3, 6-3, but he was eliminated in the second round by Malizia, 6-2, 6-3.

Cary senior Justin Radloff won his first-round match 6-4, 6-0 over Broughton’s Phillip Cardella. But Radloff, a state quarterfinalist last year, was denied a return to the state tournament this year when he lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to East Chapel Hill’s Sam Weissler in the second round.

The Apex duo and Green Hope’s Bowling move on to the state tournament, which will be held Friday and Saturday at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. Matches begin Friday morning at 10.

“I like our chances,” Edeback said. “If we play like we did Saturday [at regionals], we have a pretty good shot at winning states.”

Green Hope, Apex advance Earlier last week, Green Hope and Apex both won their first-round matches in the NCHSAA 4-A dual team tournament.

Green Hope was a 6-0 winner over Scotland on May 6, and Apex was a 6-0 winner at Greenville Rose the same afternoon.

Bowling, Taylor Elliott, Luke Wicklegren, Eason Lee, Kevin Terrill and Kia Bazzaz each won their matches for the Falcons in straight sets.

For Apex, Barrett, Edeback, Elliot Wickham, Gibson Smith, Cullen Baker and John Crick did the same.

Green Hope (18-3) was to face Wilmington Hoggard (16-1) in the second round on Tuesday at Cary Tennis Park, and Apex (16-5) was to face Millbrook (16-1) at Annie Jones Park. Results were not available at press time.