Monday, April 20th, players of each tennis team in the SWAC gathered at Cary Tennis Park to take part in the annual individual conference tournament.  The double elimination tournament is a chance for athletes to play for individual accolades in conference and to earn a trip to the individual regional tournament.

Each team is allotted two singles and two doubles slots in the tournament, and rankings are determined prior to the tournament based on each team’s individual performances during the regular season.

Mr. Blalock, head coach of the Panther Creek men’s tennis team, elected to send Ty Giggey (12) and Aditya Kakkar (11) as one doubles team, and Alex Zietlow (12) and Griffin Bouton (9) as the other. Giggey and Kakkar ranked as the overall #2 seed in the doubles part of the tournament while Zietlow and Bouton got the #6 seed.

Sidd Pal (9) and Nadir Bajwa (9) represented Panther Creek in the singles bracket.  Pal was the overall #2 seed in the tournament, and Bajwa did not receive an official seed.

Panther Creek was the only SWAC team to have all four of its squads advance to the second day of the tournament.

Men’s Tennis players Ty Giggey, Aditya Kakkar, Alex Zietlow, Griffin Bouton, Nadir Bajwa, & Sidd Pal advanced to SWAC Championship Day #2!

— Panther Creek Sports (@_Panther_Creek_) April 20, 2015

Zietlow and Bouton were eliminated after losing to a Cary High School double team the second day.  Giggey and Kakkar were also eliminated by the eventual runners-up to the doubles tournament from Green Hope.

Giggey and Kakkar qualified for regionals.

5 #SWAC doubles to regionals: GHO: Rico/Edwards; Ghotkar/Javalkar HLY: Carter/Miller PAN: Giggey/Kakkar ADR: Combos/Zaccardelli — J. Mike Blake (@JMBpreps) April 21, 2015

According to Kakkar, he is content with Ty and his placement in the tournament, but feels that they did not play up to their absolute potential.

“I’m happy that we made regionals, which I expected since I think that Ty and I are a good doubles team,” Kakkar said.  “I thought that we could have played better, though.”

Bajwa was eliminated from the tournament, also falling to a Cary opponent.  Sid Pal lost in the championship match to Duke commit Nick Stachowiak from Middle Creek.

Pal also qualified for regionals.


5 #SWAC singles players going to regionals: MID: Stachowiak; McGrew PAN: Pal GHO: Iyer CRY: Friedland

— J. Mike Blake (@JMBpreps) April 21, 2015

“I really enjoyed the tournament and being able to represent myself for a bit with my teammates supporting me,” Pal said.  “And of course being able to bunk a bit of class for school was my favorite part.”

Panther Creek’s success in the SWAC Tennis Conference Tournament is a reflection of their successful regular season.  The Catamounts must defeat both Holly Springs and Cary to earn a spot in the 2015 men’s tennis state playoffs held next week.

They are looking to go to the state playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.