East Wake women's tennis team evened its record to 3-3 overall and boosted its conference record to 2-1 after a 7-2 flogging of West Johnston last Wednesday.

East Wake only lost one out of the 15 singles sets, and allowed no more than three games to be won by the Wildcats in all others. Junior April Williford dropped the first set to West Johnston's Allie Powers 6-1, but came back to win the second set 6-2, and closed the third set with a 10-4 tiebreak win to keep East Wake's singles flawless.

Third-year coach Kelley Connolly said it's a good start for her group, and she expects the team's record to improve as the conference hits full speed. But she noted that's how it goes when half of the 14-player team is made up of seniors and five of the players on the team are returning starters. The five returning starters include seniors Adrinne Beaver, Morgan Piner and Nicole Duke, Williford and sophomore Emma Cannon.

"This year I think we'll do alright," Connolly said. "We've got a good group of kids that have been playing for a couple of years now, so I think it should be a positive year for us compared to last year. I'm looking forward to it."

Connolly's focus is on the team winning games, as is any coach's, but she's also thinking about the future of the program. Losing five senior starters means there will be spots to fill next year. Her hope is that the younger, less experienced players that have joined the team will learn a thing or two this year -- if not from the more experienced players, then from practice and exhibition games in which they have competed.

"The main thing with those with less experience is just getting them to keep the ball in play," Connolly said. "It's so hard to tell what you've got past your top six because you don't get to see them play match play, so I hope practicing enough is getting them where we need them to be for next year. But that's the big thing -- you don't get to watch the exhibition matches as much as you do everything else, so you kind of miss out on who can do what."

After opening Greater Neuse River play with a 9-0 sweep of Harnett Central two weeks ago, the Lady Warriors fell to Smithfield-Selma 6-3 last Monday, but bounced back quickly with the convincing win over the Wildcats.

Individual results:

(1) A. Beaver (EW) def. B. Shearin 6-3, 6-1; (2) M. Piner (EW) def. A. Ennis 6-0, 6-1; (3) N. Duke (EW) def. M. Ahearn 6-1, 6-1; (4) A. Williford (EW) def. A. Powers 1-6, 6-2, 10-4); (5) E. Cannon (EW) def. M. Pullium 6-0, 6-2; (6) D. Moscoso (EW) def. K. Debord 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles results:

(1) B. Shearin/M. Ahearn (WJ) def. A. Beaver/N. Duke 8-6; (2) M. Piner/A. Williford (EW) def. A. Ennis/A. Powers 8-0; (3) M. Pullium/K. Debord (WJ) def. E. Cannon/D. Moscoso 8-6.