The Mathews High School girls’ tennis team won the Region A title, defeating Rappahannock, 5-4, last Thursday to advance to this weekend’s state tournament at Radford University.

"This has been my toughest greatest victory in all of my nine years of coaching," said MHS head coach LaDonna Crain. "I have never had a team come together and battle so hard for the win. I am so very proud of each and every one of them. I have been coaching these girls since the eighth grade and they have grown up with my twins. I have six seniors on the team, including my twins, and I am really going to miss them." Crain has taken the MHS girls to the state championships eight out of the nine years that she has coached.

Last Thursday’s match at the Howard Mast Tennis Center in Suffolk was a grueling affair that came down to the final doubles match to determine who would take the regional title. Six of the nine matches went into three sets. The team was on the courts from 10 a.m. to 5 ...