Ernst, Marquis and Bailey earn MPSSAA state tennis runner-up finishes

Clear Spring's Brady Ernst and Boonsboro's Blake Marquis and Samantha Bailey earned second-place finishes in Class 1A during the final day of the MPSSAA state tennis tournament, held at multiple locations around the Baltimore-Washington metro area, on Monday, May 25.

Ernst (22-2), a senior who won Washington County and 1A West boys singles titles earlier this month, defeated Patuxent's Kyle Hensler 6-0, 6-0 in the state quarterfinals and rallied to stun Kent County's top-seeded Sebastien Cousineau in a 10-8 tiebreak after sets of 1-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the semifinals. But Ernst ran out of gas in a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Harford Tech's second-seeded Keagan Luu in the championship match.

Marquis and Bailey (7-2), the 1A West mixed doubles champions and county runners-up who were the state tournament's top seed, defeated Colonel Richardson's Ryan Kefauver and Rylie Baker 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals and Century's Matthew Komiske and Addison Mahoney 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals. Marquis and Bailey lost to Harford Tech's second-seeded Brady Sullivan and Chloe Nguyen 705, 6-0 in the championship match.

Three other Washington County doubles teams won quarterfinal matches before falling in the semifinals.

In 1A boys doubles, Clear Spring's second-seeded Wyatt Albowicz and Blake Crampton (21-2), the 1A West championships and county runners-up, defeated Patuxent's Daniel Seger and Sam Guinaldo 6-0, 6-1 in quarterfinals before falling to Harford Tech's Peter Kozlowski and Keegan Olmstead, 7-6 (6), 7-5.

In 1A girls doubles, Boonsboro's Charleigh McDowell and Alivia Marquis (20-5), the 1A West champions and county runners-up, defeated Snow Hill's Regina Welch and Karsyn Cylc 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals before falling to Patterson Mill's second-seeded Angela Kim and Sophia Trinh 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals.

In 2A mixed doubles, Williamsport's Jake Miller and Skylar Norris (3-2), the 2A West runners-up, defeated Winters Mill 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals before losing to Queen Anne's top-seeded Will Taylor and Meg Taylor 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Trio of Washington County tennis players earn MPSSAA state silver