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State tennis champions: Williamstown boys back on top in Class AA/A

By Kerry Patrick 6 min read

CHARLESTON -- In the chase for a possible second straight Class AA/A state tennis championship, a mere point separated frontrunner Williamstown and Charleston Catholic with three doubles matches yet to be determined Saturday afternoon at the Charleston Catholic tennis courts.

The Yellowjackets put down the hammer by winning all three matches and put to rest any possible tiebreaker criteria which might have materialized and finished with a grand total of 17 points. Charleston Catholic placed runner-up with 15 points.

All-staters Austin Bosgraf and Rainer Holl joined Gavin Bosgraf, Tyler Fenton, Brandon Gray and John Hill as Williamstown individuals who contributed at least one title to the Williamstown hardware. Holl and Gavin Bosgraf went one step further and won both their singles and doubles championship matches.

On the girls side, Audrey Fenton won a singles title at No. 4, while Claire Strobl and Athenn Stewart followed suit at No. 3 doubles.

"Williamstown tennis was amazing this weekend," Williamstown coach Dave Leo said. "We knew we had kids coming in who could help us this year -- winning a state title on the boys side is a great accomplishment for the program and school. It's one of those surreal moments. Everybody chipped in.

"It's going to be one of those things where we sit back and enjoy. I'm telling you what, I'm calling the Williamstown mayor and getting the fire engines ready."

After Holl and Tyler Fenton made quick work of a pair from Keyser 6-1, 6-1 in the finals at No. 2 doubles, Williamstown needed just one win from the remaining two doubles entries to secure the team title.

Enter a pair of freshman, who are best friends on the tennis court, soccer field and life in general. Gray and Hall rebounded from a first set loss and defeated Charleston Catholic's entry 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. The No. 1 doubles match was still in progress as the Yellowjacket faithful celebrated a state championship not quite official.

"When John and I were younger, we would look up to the freshmen -- now the kids in middle school are looking up to us," Gray said. "We have great team culture here at Williamstown."

Fenton's role in the Yellowjacket success extends to his older sister, Audrey, who defeated Chapmanville's Carmen Mahon 6-3, 6-2 and placed a feather in her cap in her final athletic endeavor as a senior at Williamstown.

"This year, I just had to play smarter and focus on just getting the ball in," said Audrey Fenton, who placed runner-up at No. 4 singles as a junior. "The girls I played was really good. I focused on me not missing and forcing her to miss instead."

With the graduation of Holl and Gavin Bosgraf, Tyler Fenton figures he will occupy the No. 2 singles position next season as a junior. The return of Austin Bosgraf at No. 1 singles will push Tyler in practice and upgrade his game.

"Coming down, Audrey talked about her goals and she got one of them in singles and I won one of mine with a double title," said Tyler one year after winning state titles at No. 3 singles and No. 3 doubles. "I came up short at No. 2 singles, but I will take what we did any as a team any day."

Saturday's state tournament opened with championship matches in singles for both boys and girls. Williamstown owned a one-point advantage over Charleston Catholic in the boys bracket. The two schools split the four singles matches and set up the Yellowjackets impressive finish in doubles.

After splitting the first two sets with Charleston Catholic's Connor Waybright, Holl rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the third set for a 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 victory. The match lasted exactly three hours.

"I worked my tail off all year," said Holl, who reached the semifinals at No. 2 singles last season. "After three hours, I didn't want to play my doubles, but I knew I had to. The heat was definitely a factor. I was having to push through all my limits. Down 3-0 in the third set, I was so close to giving up.

"I did it before and was down 6-3 in (a quarterfinal final) and won 8-6. And it happened on the same court."

At No. 1 singles, emotion matched the energy between Austin Bosgraf and Charleston Catholic's Nick Giatras for three hours plus another 10 minutes. Giatras outlasted Bosgraf 6-4, 5-7. 6-4.

"It was an incredible match," Austin said. "I served really bad, honestly. Lot of double faults. I'll be back next year and for now we will enjoy our win doubles."

The last singles match to step onto the court for either division paired another Williamstown individual against Charleston Catholic at No. 4 singles. Gavin Bosgraf gave his younger brother ample time to rest for their No. 1 doubles match and left plenty in the tank himself after defeating Patrick Griffith 7-5, 6-4.

Gavin Bosgraf added to his awards collection, which included being a member of the 2021 Yellowjackets state championship team in basketball.

"This is actually only my second year playing singles -- I've done decent once my brother taught me to play a little bit," Gavin said. "Winning a state title is a great feeling. We had a lot of good kids on the team and I was able to play through it. Got into the singles lineup and ended up winning a state championship. That's pretty awesome."

For their No. 1 doubles final against Charleston Catholic's Giatris and Waybright, the Bosgraf brothers looked sharp from the opening serve and won in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

"I think my brother stalled out enough for me to give me plenty of rest," Austin laughed. "I felt like Gavin and I have always had great chemistry. As brothers, we have always gotten along well. Gavin was volleying like a monster out there and served like a champ.

"We both play really smart tennis and I think that got us the win."

The Williamstown girls wrapped up a third-place finish with 10 points -- just two points shy of matching runner-up Chapmanville. Charleston Catholic claimed the girls state title with 16 points.

Representing the Yellowjacket girls on championship Saturday were sophomores Claire Strobl and Athenn Stewart defeating their opposition from Chapmanville, 6-2, 6-3. At No. 3 singles, Chapmanville's Emma Bryant defeating senior London Flores 7-5, 6-4.

At the Class AAA site at Kanawha City Community Center, Parkersburg's Lakyn Campbell earned All-State honors after advancing to the semifinals at No. 1 singles.

In the girls team standings, Hurricane won the title with 15 points, while Huntington placed runner-up with 13 points. On the boys side, state champion Hurricane scored 16 points compared to 11 points for runner-up George Washington.

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

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