“This is the best season out of all four years that I’ve played,” Vaughn said. “The team has improved so much from where we were last year. We’ve had a great record, and we’ve worked really hard to improve on our game.”

Ciaramitaro and Vaughn made it to the second round of the doubles tournament before losing a third set tiebreaker.

“We played really well, and it was amazing to be a part of the team, Ciaramitaro said. “It’s our last year, and I think we really lived it up and went out with a bang.”

Vaughn, the team’s second seed, said she improved from the first day she held a racket as a freshman to being one game away from advancing to the state tournament.

“I’ve really had to work on confidence,” Vaughn said. “Sometimes I got frustrated because I knew that I could play better than what I was at that time, so I had to learn to keep my cool and know that I can win.”

The Falcons finished the season by winning the conference tournament and maintaining a 17-5 overall record.

“A few matches this season have come down to the wire,” Vaughn said. “Sometimes during tournaments we’ve only won two singles and the other team has won four, and we’ve had to win all three doubles to win the match. A lot of games we’ve come from behind and done that, because we always know what’s on the line and work hard.”

Sophomore Savannah Smith also performed well at regionals, coming in first for the team with an overall score of 19-3. Freshman Carolina Herrera came in fourth with an average of 9-13.

“Even though we didn’t make it to state, we all played our hardest and that’s what counts,” Smith said. “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished as a team, and I look forward to practice to prepare for next season.”

After a rough start, the varsity men’s basketball team has been looking to bounce back and gain some momentum going into the state playoffs this week.

“The goal for our team was to win the majority of our games,” Perron said. “The first half of the season, we were in most of our games and lost them when the score was pretty close, but we should be able to pull through most of our games now because we have more experience.”

Against 4A A.C. Reynolds, the team bounced back from an early 15-3 deficit in the first half and went on a 19-10 point streak to make the game close at halftime.

The game was close all throughout the fourth quarter, but Reynolds pulled away in the closing minutes to make the final score, 58-64.

“Coming back from a tough loss is always hard, but I think it’s more emotional and mental than it is physical. We just have to fight through it and try to forget about our mistakes to move on to the next play,” Head Coach Billy Phillips said. “Our motto this year is, ‘Next play, next game.’ We just have to look past our losses and work to win the next game.”

Throughout this season, injuries have plagued the team. First starting center Stephen Cole had mononucleosis followed by small forward Adam Witte, who broke his hand.

“Adjusting to our injuries has been one of the biggest struggles that we have faced,” junior Josh VanWingerden said. “It has been pretty difficult, but we have had some people step up to the challenge. We have had to compensate for some of our starters being hurt and sick.”

When injuries come into effect, all players must be able to adapt to the changes.

“With the injuries, everybody has to be ready and prepared at all times as if they would be starting,” Perron said.

In the game against conference rival Brevard, the team jumped into the game with such a good start, Brevard was unable to catch up.

The team worked together and could not be stopped on offense. Led by senior Zach Bell, who scored 23 points, the Falcons won the game, 70-53.

“It definitely helped us to have all of our teammates healthy for the game,” VanWingerden said. “This was the first game that everybody has been 100 percent ready to play.”

After a shaky season last year, the team went into this season with a desire for improvement. Since then, they have grown as a team to achieve a number of victories.

“We have shown a lot of improvement from last year,” VanWingerden said. “We are looking to keep improving and getting better to finish out the season strong.”

Although the team has continued to seek improvement throughout the season, they have still had their losses.

The team lost a close game away at conference opponent Tuscola, 57-65

“We just have to get over the hump as far as getting a win against a good basketball team,” Phillips said. “I think that will solve a lot of our problems.”

The basketball team lost to Pisgah in the opening round of the conference tournament and will play in the first round of the state playoffs.

Collin Armstrong