FAYETTEVILLE — Lumberton senior Ethan Stevens claimed the United-8 Conference tennis tournament singles championship last week, beating the competition to win the title in the event over two days at Arnette Park in Fayetteville.

Stevens defeated Gray’s Creek’s Dalton Canady 6-3, 6-2 in the championship match.

“I have enjoyed playing tennis this season,” Stevens said. “I have given blood, sweat, and tears to be able to take the conference championship for the Pirates.”

He is the only player from the Lumberton team to advance to the 4A Mideast regionals, which will be contested Friday in Durham.

Stevens was 14-2 in the regular season, which was tied for first place in the conference. After a first-round bye in the tournament, he defeated Ayden Arnold 6-4, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Stevens lost the first set of his semifinal match against Alden Kim 6-4, but responded with a 6-0 set win and won the tiebreak 10-4 to win the match and advance to the championship.

Lumberton’s Carmen McIntyre and Henry Greene made it to the semifinals in the doubles tournament; Ian Hall and Miguel Poingue lost a tiebreak that would have advanced them to the semifinals. Dixon Davis also competed in the singles tournament.

Purnell Swett’s Branlon Brooks reached the second round of the singles tournament. Rams singles playler Kaede Collins and the doubles teams of Collin Sampson/Avry Locklear and John Broussard/Owen Deese each lost in the first round.

Broussard was competing in the conference tournament for the first time just 17 months after a heart transplant.

St. Pauls earns state playoff bid

The St. Pauls boys tennis team qualified for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 2A dual-team state playoffs as brackets were released on Monday.

The No. 21 Bulldogs will play in Wednesday’s first round at No. 12 East Carteret. The winner will advance to Monday’s second round to face No. 5 Holmes, which received a first-round bye.