In Friday's non-conference tennis match, the Pinecrest Patriots prevailed 6-3 over the Union Pines Vikings in the 2009 edition of the intra-county showdown, on a sunny, breezy afternoon, in Cameron.

With the Patriots' top three players having all earned straight set victories in singles, all eyes shifted to the upper-three courts where the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 singles matches were still being contested. Junior Nolan Evans, playing No. 6 singles, earned Union Pines first point of the day with a 7-6, 6-0 victory.

Following Evans' win, the two remaining matches both boiled down to 10-point tie breakers, with Pinecrest needing victories in each to clinch the match before the start of doubles competition. Patriot Jordan Dew completed a stirring comeback as he claimed a 13-11 win in the tiebreaker to take the match over Vike Josh Bryant. Having lost the opening set 6-2, Dew battled back to take the second set 6-3 and forced the breaker.

"In the second set I was able to relax," Dew said, "and focus on my shots to start putting points together. This rivalry is everything. It is what we have been working for in practice and just to beat these guys (Union Pines) makes the season."

It then all came down to the No. 5 singles match between Pincrest's Ethan Kavanaugh and Union Pines' Jay O'Connor. O'Connor dropped the first set 6-2 but then pulled out a 7-5 breaker at the conclusion of the second set to force the final 10-point tie break for the match.

After a closely competitive, back and forth final game, Kavanaugh earned two match points when he went up 9-7. O'Connor fought off the first, forcing his competitor to again serve for the match. This time Kavanaugh won the point, as an O'Connor forehand sailed just long, allowing Pinecrest to clinch the match.

Union Pines won two of the three doubles matches.

"Going into that last set I knew I had to come out on top," said Kavanaugh, "or I would let my team down. I had to come in and play my hardest to get the win. It is always fun to come out to Cameron and play Union Pines. They always give us a good match."

Pinecrest head coach Gail Deese said it is a pleasure to bring her team to Union Pines to take on coach John Frye's Vikings.

"He (Frye) is an excellent coach and they always have great players," Deese said, "and just the competition between the two teams is awesome. In our league schedule we don't face very strong conference competition. So to come here and have our boys have strong matches and see their mental strength come out is a nice feeling. To be fortunate enough to get the win is a big boost in morale for our team, it really is."

Dana Paraziale, a junior and the Pats' number one player, put the first Pinecrest point on the board in a straight set match over the hard serving Dillon Rice. In his match Friday Parziale performed at a high level winning several points with well struck winners and showing a consistent, effective all-round style of play.

"We have a real deep team this year," Parziale said, "so it feels great that we were able to grind out those last two matches to clinch the event at 5-1. I thought I played real well in the first set of my match against Dillon, who is a really great player. Our match was much closer than the final score indicated but I have been practicing quite a bit so I came in feeling like I should be able to get the win.

"Being undefeated on the year, today's match was defiantly one of our toughest of the season. It is great to have another strong team to play against so close by in the county and it is a big victory for us. Anytime you can beat your cross-county rival it is great and they are such a solid team that it really does make it feel special."

With the victory, the Patriots remain perfect on the year with a record of 8-0. For Union Pines, which also came into the match undefeated (as the 8th ranked 3A team in the state by the North Carolina High School Tennis Coaches Association) the loss move the Vikings' overall record to 11-1 on the season.

After the match Vike head coach John Frye was pleased to have been part of another installment of the annual Moore County "Battle of The Pines" match.

"First I would like to extend my congratulations to Coach Gail Deese's Pinecrest team." he said. "Today's contest was an intensely exciting match with superb play from both sides of the net. Each team left the court exhausted but happy to have participated in such superb competition."

Contact F.W. Manning II at 639-5481 or by email at fwm2@nc.rr.com

Results Pinecrest 6; Union Pines 3

Singles -- D. Parziale (P) d. Dillon Rice, 6-1, 6-2; Will Davis (P) d. Will Fondrie, 7-5, 6-1; E. Parziale (P) d. Jake Waits, 6-3, 6-3; Dew (P) d. Bryant, 2-6, 6-3 (13-11); Kavanaugh (P ) d. O'Connor, 6-2, 6-7 (7-5) (10-8) Evans, (U) d. Andrew Jones, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0. Doubles --D. Parziale-Davis (P) d. Rice- Fondrie 8-6; Waits-O'Connor (U) d. E Parziale-Jones 8-5; Bryant-Evans (U) d. Will Harris-Aaron Wilkinson P 8-5.

Exhibitions:

Jay Stalls-Jon Fondrie (U) d. Talmadge Shepherd-Brendin Cummings 8-3; Jacob Daniel (U) d. Josh Coxe 8-4; Dustin Kavanaugh (P) d.Ty White, 8-6.