Wando girls gunning for sixth championship

Just when it appeared that Wando might be ready to give other Class AAAA girls tennis teams a serious shot at winning a state championship, Columbia-area transplants Alexis Prickett and Clair Larkin showed up in the Warriors' lineup. Neither has lost a match this season.

That's the problem facing the three other teams still alive in the chase to derail Wando's drive for a sixth straight state title.

Unbeaten Dutch Fork is first up for the Warriors in today's 2 p.m. Lower State final at Sumter's Palmetto Tennis Center.

The Wando problem -- for other state teams -- isn't likely to go away anytime soon. Prickett and Larkin are only juniors, and No. 4 Catherine Martin is a freshman and No. 5 Melanie Allen is a seventh-grader. Martin and Allen also are first-year team members.

True, No. 1 player Corin Hallman is a senior, but either No. 2 Martin or No. 3 Prickett easily could play the top position. As veteran coach Becky Williamson claims, the Warriors' top three players are virtually interchangeable.

Wando has a true sleeper in Prickett. She sat out as a sophomore at Wando due to a transfer student eligibility ruling after leading Hammond School to a SCISA state title as an eighth-grader and a runner-up finish as a freshman.

Williamson calls Prickett the best No. 3 player in the state. A healthy Prickett may be as good as any high school player in the state. She ended 2008 as the state's second-ranked junior player in girls' 16.

Prickett started slowly when she arrived on the Wando team in late August due to being sidelined by an injury since February. She resumed her junior tennis tournament schedule last month.

"I'm just now getting my game back," said the power-hitting 5-6 player who uses two hands from both sides. "I don't have the consistency I had before (the injury), and also I'm trying to get my serving percentage up."

She doesn't mind playing No. 3 where the opposition rarely offers a serious challenge in high school tennis.

"It's been a lot of fun ... I love all of the girls," said Prickett, whose grandfather is former University of South Carolina quarterback legend Mackie Prickett of St. Matthews.

"I think this is a great team. We're loaded all the way down the line. Melanie (Allen) is only a seventh-grader, but she's such a good player."

Larkin's move to the Charleston area was a little different.

"We had always been planning to move here," she said. Her father, noted tennis court builder Frank Larkin of Howard B. Jones & Son company of Lexington, moved the family here in January.

Why Wando?

"I came from a big school (Lexington), and I like a big school," she explained. "I also knew the tennis team (at Wando) was really good, and that's definitely a part of it."

Larkin actually played and lost to Hallman at No. 2 singles in last year's state semifinals when Larkin was a sophomore at Lexington. On Tuesday, Larkin was on the other side of the battle when the Warriors cruised to a 6-0 win over Lexington in the state quarterfinals.

She loves her new team, especially playing for a team that has won a state-record 97 straight matches. "It's awesome," she said. "It's really big . . . going for a sixth straight state championship."

BE seeks third straight

Bishop England (16-4), under first-year coach Kristin Fleming, is seeking its third straight Class AA state title. The Bishops face a tough task in today's 2 p.m. lower state final against perennial nememis Waccamaw.

The winner will advance to Saturday's 10 a.m. state final against the winner of the upper state match pitting Greenwood's Emerald against Woodruff. The Bishops have defeated Emerald each of the last two years in the state final.

The Bishops defeated Waccamaw in last year's lower state final.

Raptors eye title

Academic Magnet (11-5) will square off in the lower state Class A final at 2 p.m. in Sumter against Green Sea-Floyds, which eliminated the Raptors in last year's state quarterfinals. First-year coach Brooke Floyd's Academic Magnet team scored a 5-1 road win over Johnsonville on Tuesday, while Green Sea Floyds shut out East Clarendon, 7-0.

Perennial power Christ Church of Greenville is a heavy favorite in the upper state final against Landrum.