Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy Returning Three Starters
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- Written by: Donald Clark
Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy has three returning starters, including a number one seed who was injured all of last year and two players from the 2024 top six.
Gary Williams is starting his fourth season as the head coach at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy. He has an overall record of 20-22 in his first three seasons. The squad held its first practice on Wednesday, July 30th at Cleveland Country Club in Shelby.
""I have very high expectations for our team this season. We have three returning players, and they are all very strong players. We also have some young new players who have come out who have worked hard throughout the summer to learn the sport and improve. I expect us to be a very strong team at the top of our roster with a lot of depth all the way through number six. We are looking forward to a great season ahead," said Coach Williams.
The Lady Gryphons open the 2025 season on Tuesday, August 12th at Cherryville High School.
No commentsPre-Regional Qualifiying Events
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
The regional tournaments will remain 16-entry draws in both singles and doubles. That's the same format as in previous years.
However, starting this fall, berths to the regional tournaments will no longer be distributed to conferences, but will be awarded based on pre-regional qualifying events.
So, what are these pre-regionals?
Basically, it's like the qualifying rounds at a major professional event, such as the US Open. Only, instead of taking a full week to play three or four rounds of qualifying, our pre-regional event is one round of play, with the winners advancing to the regional tournaments.
The pre-regional isn't a tournament ... it is one round of qualifying for the regionals. That's by design, as we did not want to obligate coaches, players, and parents to a third weekend of post-season individual play.
State Individual Tournament Changes
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
As part of the new realignment, the NCHSAA adopted a provision that the state individual tournaments will be conducted as three-round, 8-entry brackets. This means that only two players (or doubles teams) will advance from each regional to the state tournaments.
The NCHSAA also announced that our four traditional sites will be used for the state tournaments, with two classifications at each tournament site.
- 1A/2A - Cary Tennis Park
- 3A/4A - Ting Park in Holly Springs
- 5A/6A - Burlington Tennis Center
- 7A/8A - Millbrook Exchange Park
Another change coming in the fall of 2025 is the adoption of the USTA High School Digital Platform (aka Serve Tennis) as the management tool for the state individual tournaments.
Revised Dual Team Lineup Sheet
- Details
- Written by: Vic Ramsey
For the past several years, the NCHSAA has required the use of a "dual-team lineup sheet", which coaches exchange prior to the beginning of the match.
Over the summer, NCHSTCA leadership, working with Caitlin McMannen at NCHSAA, revised the lineup sheet to address several shortcomings of the previous version, and to reduce confusion about what coaches can and cannot do with their dual-team lineups.
In addtion, we've written a "user's guide" to the revised lineup sheet, to explain what's changed and how the lineup sheet is to be used.
Click here for a .pdf copy of the lineup sheet, and for a copy of the user's guide.
An interactive Excel version of the lineup sheet, which you can download and complete on your own computer, is being emailed to all coaches for whom we have an accurate email address. If you have not received your copy, please send an email to our
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