Parkersburg Catholic's top four boys singles players and No.1 girls singles player party after capturing individual state championships Saturday at the Charleston YMCA. Pictured from left to right: Aidan Roberts, Noah Chidester, Marie Discini, Nash Morris, and Brendan Smith. Photo provided.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — One day after securing the first Class AA/A high school boys tennis state championship since 1999, Parkersburg Catholic swept all four singles titles Saturday and took home gold in the No. 2 doubles.

Jason Discini’s squad ran away and hid from runner-up Ravenswood, 19-11. Defending state champion Charleston Catholic finished in third place with 10 points.

‘It is surreal,” said Discini. “I knew coming in we had a very talented team that could do this, but the goal from day one of practice was to not get ahead of ourselves. I told them all year long, ‘One point, one game, one match at a time — we aren’t getting ahead. We can’t just show up at the state tournament and expect to win.’

“The things we went through in practice and games … We were prepared for this moment. We got them here and now we have them on the finish line.”

Noah Chidester began the day’s festivities after an emphatic and dominant 6-0, 6-0 double-donut victory over Charleston Catholic’s Drew Elliott on court three.

“It felt really good,” the senior responded when asked how it felt to win a state title. “That is the best I have played in a while. Drew didn’t play a terrible match either. I just came out firing on all cylinders. It was just the culmination of this year and last year … I don’t know. Hard work pays off.”

Last season, Chidester advanced to the state finals where he was defeated in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 by Charleston Catholic’s Tyler Zubick. The 2016 loss definitely left a bitter taste in his mouth that played a factor in the senior’s motivation to finish the job in 2017.

“It made me want to train as hard as I could this past year. I came out here and didn’t lose all year and if you don’t lose all year, it means you win, right?”

Chidester’s championship plaque is going above the runner-up trophy from last year on his wall at home.

Shortly after the No. 2’s concluded, Brendan Smith wrapped up the No. 3 singles match with a 6-1, 6-0 win over East Fairmont’s Kevin Webb.

Smith played one point at a time and remained focused on his main goal of a state title. He didn’t get too ahead of himself and things turned out well.

“I know all the hard work I have put into this,” he added. “This was years in the making, including year-around tennis and not just during the season, and i’ts finally paying off.”

Catholic’s top singles player Nash Morris had to put in a bit more time to earn his state title in No. 1 singles. The junior went head-to-head with Ravenswood’s Max Hilton for almost two-and-a-half hours before he emerged with the firs-place plaque.

He dropped the first set 6-1 and was in danger of losing the match when Hilton got up early in the second set. Yet, the junior dug down deep for a 7-5 triumph and then a 6-1 tally in the deciding contest.

“I was nervous and Max starts out strong,” said Morris. “He almost closed out the match, but I came back. Then in the third set when I barely held for 4-1 and barely broke him 5-1, I knew I had it. This was all I wanted today.”

Freshman Aidan Roberts finished off the sweep with his No .4 singles victory over Charleston Catholic’s Chris Istfan 6-3, 6-0. The contest gave Roberts his second consecutive never-before-seen opponent.

Similar to his opening opponent, Roberts used the 10-minute warm-up period to get a feel for his opponent’s court game. He already had a conversation with Istfan’s semifinal opponent Chris Legg of Winfield, but still required first-hand knowledge and experience.

“It is incredible,” he said when asked about the results of the final match of the year. “I never thought at the beginning of the year I would be walking off the court and getting interviewed.”

The young Crusader almost entered panic mode five games into the match after Istfan pulled within 3-2. Normally steely-nerved, Roberts fell victim to the will of Istfan, then struggled to keep up with his opponent’s crosscourt game.

However, coach Discini delivered him a great pep talk during the next court change and he never looked back afterward.

Roberts and Smith claimed the No. 2 doubles golden plaque with a 6-2, 6-2 performance against Lincoln’s Cory Fazalare and Izzik Haymond.

Marie Discini polished off an undefeated freshman campaign with a straight-set win over Huntington St. Joe’s Audrey Heaberlin. After stating she was worried about the Irish players style of play against her, Discini dropped just three games on the way to a 6-1, 6-2 win.

Those three contests were the only games taken from the Crusader over four matches at the state tournament.

Rallies were long and drawn out with Heaberlin moving her opponent around. But in the end, it didn’t matter a whole lot.

“It feels great,” said Discini when asked about the championship win.