NEWPORT NEWS — Like last year, Harrison Lee knew not to panic when cramps struck. Unlike last year, though, he couldn’t overcome a tough opponent while fighting them.
Lee, a Princess Anne High senior who won the 2022 Class 5 singles championship, was the last hope for a Hampton Roads player to take an individual tennis title in any VHSL class this year, but he lost his bid to repeat in a 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7) epic to sophomore Dylan Chou of Douglas Freeman.
Finalists from York County, Newport News and Chesapeake already had fallen Saturday morning at Huntington Park.
Lee and Chou, friends who often are doubles partners in U.S. Tennis Association events, played for more than 2 1/2 hours despite a format designed to shorten matches. Instead of enduring full third sets in VHSL tournaments this season, competitors took three-minute breaks if they split two sets, then immediately played decisive match tiebreaks to 10.
In a match with grueling rallies, impressive shotmaking and excellent sportsmanship, Lee rallied from 2-0 behind to win the second set and force the decider. In that tiebreak, Lee overcame a 4-0 deficit to pull even at 7, but he felt his left quadriceps lock at that point.
“I realized I just have to go aggressive,” he said.
He netted a forehand service return, then doubled over in agony. About a minute later, he called for a medical timeout, leading to about a five-minute break.
A long rally ensued at 7-8, but Lee chipped a backhand into the net. On Chou’s first match point, Lee netted a forehand early in the rally to end the encounter, and Chou could barely celebrate.
About 15 minutes after the match, Lee sat on a bench and said he felt fine. “Right now, I feel like I could go again,” he said. “He got me in straight sets a couple of weeks ago, and I made the points go longer today.”
The match was a homecoming for Chou, whose parents grew up in Newport News.
“I felt bad for him; it was such a great match,” Chou said. “I was cramping in the second set.”
Lee still can cherish last year, when he fought off cramps in a full third set to win 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 over Riverbend’s Jack Wexler in the final. Lee soon will try to earn a starting spot for the James Madison Dukes.
In other singles finals at Huntington Park:
Class 4 boys
Grafton junior Rainer Christiansen seemed on the verge of his first title, but Lightridge senior Sid Dabhade wrested it away in a hard-hitting 2-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-4) victory. Dabhade, last year’s runner-up, trailed 4-1 in the tiebreak, but won the last nine points of a match that finished before Lee and Chou completed their first set.
Class 4 girls
Great Bridge sophomore Kayla Kennedy, last year’s surprising champ, had been unbeaten this season until falling 6-2, 6-3 to a player she defeated in a semifinal last year, Broad Run sophomore Izzy Rotaru.
“It’s her forehand topspin because she’s a lefty, and her serve is amazing,” Kennedy said in complimenting Rotaru, who celebrated her 16th birthday with the championship after losing on her 15th birthday to the Great Bridge star last season.
Class 5 girls
Menchville sophomore Tori Epps also was unbeaten until her final, which freshman Ana Maria Rincon of Roanoke’s Patrick Henry High won 6-2, 6-1.
“20-1, pretty good season,” Epps said with a smile afterward. “I should have stayed in the points longer.”
Class 6 boys
Colgan junior Matthew Staton took his third consecutive championship, routing Yorktown’s Rayan El Khalifi 6-0, 6-1 in an all-Northern Virginia clash.
Class 6 girls
In another Northern Virginia duel, James Madison High’s Simone Bergeron, who has committed to Elon, won her second straight title by defeating Battlefield sophomore Sofia Raval 6-4, 6-2.