Filippi has been dominant in her first varsity year. She dropped two total games through the first two rounds and faced defending county champion Daphnee Whitmore of Westminster in the final. The two played a three-set match April 29 in which Filippi faced the toughest challenge of her young career but came out on top. Tuesday, they played another three-set thriller and once again Filippi came out on top, 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.In doubles divisions, Liberty’s Arjun Mistry and Hayden Speace continued their unbeaten year with the county boys doubles championship. Manchester Valley’s Madison McGregor and Talula Castanzo won the girls doubles title and Liberty’s mixed doubles team of Grace Maerten and Louis Major became the Lions’ third title entry.
Audrey Lillycrop and Caroline Altifiras from South Carroll were the top seed in the girls doubles category for the county tournament. However, they had not competed against MacGregor and Castanzo this season. While Castanzo is usually part of the top doubles team for the Mavericks, they had her play singles during the only match against the Cavaliers in the regular season.
Mistry and Speace dominated the boys doubles competition and ended their county season with a championship win. They only lost one game in the first two rounds and defeated Michael Fronheiser and Jarom Hawes from Westminster in the finals with a score of 6-2, 7-6 (3).Andhavarapu has been a key piece of Liberty’s back-to-back Class 1A state championship teams playing mostly doubles. He won the state doubles championship with Mistry in 2022. Last year, after playing second singles behind two-time Player of the Year Honour Zan, he teamed back up with Mistry and they finished as state runners-up.
On Tuesday, Nikhil Andhavarapu from Liberty High School and Bella Filippi from Century High School were named champions in the boys and girls singles events at the Carroll County tennis tournament.
One individual is concluding their illustrious tenure at a prestigious high school, while the other is just embarking on their journey with promising prospects for their future. Despite their differences, they both have now achieved champion status.
This season, she partnered with Major for the county tournament and became the second boys singles player for Liberty. They were given the highest seed and ultimately won the finals against Michael Mooney and Sydney Mossman from South Carroll with a score of 6-3, 7-5.Maerten has been at No. 1 singles most of the season for the Lions but has been known as a postseason doubles specialist. She won last year’s county mixed doubles title with one partner and finished state runner-up with another. In 2022, she was one half of the girls doubles state championship team.
MacGregor and Catanzo were the third ranked team in the county tournament. They were able to defeat Amelia Mustico and Peyton Oakley from Liberty High School with scores of 6-2 and 7-6 (6) in the semifinals. In the finals, they emerged victorious with a score of 7-6 (1) and 6-3 against Lillycrop and Aliftiras.
This year, Andhavarapu has consistently been the top player for the Lions and faced off against Winters Mill’s Micah Ober in the county championship. Ober was the only person to defeat Andhavarapu this season. However, Andhavarapu easily secured a victory with a score of 6-3, 6-1. Prior to this, Andhavarapu also had impressive wins of 6-1, 6-2 against Kaushik Inguva from Century High School and a 6-0, 6-0 win against Jon Adcock from Francis Scott Key High School.
