Perfect ending! AC Flora boys tennis wins Class 4A state championship
AC Flora boys tennis capped its perfect season in style with a state championship on Saturday.
The Falcons defeated Bishop England, 5-1, to win the Class 4A championship, which included a venue change mid-match because of weather.
The championship started at Cayce Tennis Center but was moved to USC Indoor Tennis facility because of rain. The change didn’t seem to bother the Falcons, who were up in five of the six matches before the delay, which lasted more than two hours.
“We had to keep it rolling,” AC Flora coach Amy Martin said. “We had a couple games up but that meant nothing. We come to a new surface with fans. Coaches not being able to walk around. We just had to keep the same momentum that we had for the past three months.”
It was AC Flora’s fifth title in program history and third under Martin. The Falcons were making their 13th championship appearance and first since 2021, in which it also went undefeated in winning a state title.
Many members of this year’s squad were in middle school the last time the Falcons won the title. AC Flora finished this season with a 21-0 record.
“This was the middle school team from 2022 and we grew them up from where we left 2021 and did exactly what they needed to get done this year,” Martin said.
The doubles team of Trip Van Vlake and Will Trumpeter got the Falcons on the board with a 6-1, 6-0 win that got the large Flora crowd, which gathered on the viewing area, charged up.
It wasn’t easy for Flora with two of the matches featuring big comebacks. No. 2 singles Jude Smyth dropped the first set, 2-6, to Roland Wier before winning the next set 6-1 and then 10-3 in the tiebreaker.
Will Hewitt, No. 4 singles, won his first 6-2 but fell behind 4-0 in the second set before winning the final six games to defeat Parker Murphy.
“I had all the momentum when we started out at Cayce when it moved; it was a completely new match,” Hewitt said. “I knew he could come back and that is what he did and got to an early lead at 4-0. I just kept fighting and fighting to the last point and was able to pull it out.
“… This means the world to us. We have all been working since our seventh-grade year. There is no better way to finish my last match with them than winning a state championship.”
Other AC Flora winners were No. 3 singles Vijay Sinha, 6-1, 6-2 and No. 5 singles William Beasley, 6-2, 6-4.
Bishop England was going after its 11th championship with the others coming at the Class 2A and 3A divisions. The Bishops are in their first season in Class 4A after moving up in SCHSL realignment.
Dante Nava got the Bishops their lone win with a 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 1 singles.
SCHSL Boys Tennis Championships
Class 3A: Oceanside Collegiate 6, Clinton 0
Class 4A: AC Flora 5, Bishop England 1
Class 5A Division I: JL Mann vs. Wando, ppd, to Thursday at USC Indoor Courts
Class 5A Division II: Myrtle Beach 4, Riverside 2
This story was originally published May 10, 2025 at 4:17 PM.
