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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
In January, the NCHSTCA conducted a survey of NC high school tennis coaches with regard to several issues concerning the 2025 realignment to eight classifications.
Ninety-two coaches responded to the survey, from all areas of the state and from all eight future classifications. We believe the results reflect an accurate picture of the feelings and beliefs of NC high school tennis coaches, and we have shared these results with NCHSAA staff.

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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
On Monday, March 3rd, the NCHSAA Board of Directors met at its offices in Chapel Hill and heard appeals from schools asking for changes in their conference assignments. After hearing presentations from the schools, the Board of Directors voted on each proposal, denying the majority and approving only four changes.
- Cardinal Gibbons was granted an exception to move from 6A to 7A, while remaining in the same conference.
- Swansboro was granted a move to the 5A conference currently including schools such as Dixon and Croatan. Swansboro will be the only 6A school in that conference.
- NCSSM-Durham was allowed to join a conference in the Raleigh-Durham area, forming a 1A/2A/3A split of mostly charter schools in the Raleigh metro area.
- Fourteen schools in the northwestern section of the state were reconfigured into two conferences, one a 2A/3A/4A split and the other a 3A/4A combo.
After hearing all appeals, and voting on each, the Board adopted the final conference assignments for the new realignment period. A copy of that final report is available on the NCHSAA website.
The number of conferences remained 64, with all but 10 being split conferences. There are now 11 three-way splits and 43 two-way splits.
The vast majority of schools find themselves in split conferences.
- 68 schools are in single-class conferences
- 290 schools are in two-way splits
- 83 are in three-way splits
Seventeen schools are now "singletons"; that is, a school which is the only school of its classification in a given conference.
The prevalence of split conferences is true in all eight classifications, and is testimony to the fact that the Realignment Committee prioritized geography and natural rivalry over grouping schools of similar size.
The NCHSAA Board of Directors will now turn its attention to the work of its Bylaw Task Force, which is developing the playoff structure for individual and team sports, as well as the 2025-26 sports calendar.
This article has been updated to reflect the third draft of the conference assignments released by the NCHSAA on February 14th.
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
The NCHSAA Board of Directors held its 2024 winter meeting in Chapel Hill on December 4th and 5th, with the issues surrounding the 2025-26 realignment taking center stage.
The primary headline is: nothing new was decided about realignment or playoff structures, but intense discussions about these issues are ongoing.
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
For the past several years, the NCHSAA has required the use of a "dual-team lineup sheet", which coaches exchange prior to the beginning of the match.
Over the summer, NCHSTCA leadership, working with Caitlin McMannen at NCHSAA, revised the lineup sheet to address several shortcomings of the previous version, and to reduce confusion about what coaches can and cannot do with their dual-team lineups.
In addtion, we've written a "user's guide" to the revised lineup sheet, to explain what's changed and how the lineup sheet is to be used.
Click here for a .pdf copy of the lineup sheet, and for a copy of the user's guide.
An interactive Excel version of the lineup sheet, which you can download and complete on your own computer, is being emailed to all coaches for whom we have an accurate email address. If you have not received your copy, please send an email to our
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
The NCHSAA Board of Directors met last Wednesday and Thursday at the NCHSAA offices in Chapel Hill to conduct its Winter 2023 meeting.
At the meeting, the Board approved two items specific to tennis that had been recommended by the NCHSTCA Board of Directors.
The first item addressed two issues related to the distribution of berths among the conferences to the individual regional tournaments. Previously, the NCHSAA handbook only stated that the berths would be distributed "on a percentage basis". The exact procedure for determining these percentages, and the number of berths each conference would receive, was not described.
The NCHSTCA proposal placed language in the NCHSAA Handbook that describes in detail how this process works, so that players, parents, and coaches can know how the number of berths received by their conference was calculated.
The NCHSTCA proposal also tweaked the formula by which these berths are calculated, resulting in a more precise relationship between the "percentage basis" and the actual berths the conference receives.
Click here for the complete text of the regional berth distribution proposal.
The proposal was adopted unanimously by the Sports Committee, and by the Board of Directors as a whole. The change in the distribution formula will take effect in the fall 2024 women's tennis season.
The second item recommended by the NCHSTCA was to codify the practice of using alternate match formats during the regular season, should the coaches mutually agree.
It has been long-standing practice for coaches to agree to play a shortened match format, for instance, pro-sets in singles, when weather or scheduling issues made such desireable.
However, the NCHSAA handbook defined a regular season match format, and did not include language allowing for alternate formats.
The NCHSTCA proposal on this matter retained the current regular season dual-team format as the "default format" for regular season matches, but allows coaches, by mutual agreement, to play pro-sets in singles or to play using no-ad scoring.
Click here for the complete text of the alternate match format proposal.
This proposal was also adopted without dissent by the Sports Committee and the Board of Directors. This change in the handbook language, since it merely codifies long-standing practice, was adopted to take effect immediately.
The NCHSAA Board also adopted the 2024-25 Sports Calendar.
Women's tennis teams may begin practice on Wednesday, July 31st, and play their first matches on Monday, August 12th. Dual team playoffs begin on Wednesday, October 16th, and the individual regional tournaments take place on Friday-Saturday, October 18th-19th. The individual state tournaments take place on October 25th-26th, and the dual team finals are scheduled for Saturday, November 2nd.
In the spring of 2025, men's tennis teams may begin practice on Wednesday, February 12th, and play their first matches on Monday, February 24th. Dual team plaoffs begin on Wednesday, April 30th, and the invidiaul regional tournaments are set for Friday-Saturday, May 2nd-3rd. The individual state tournaments take place on May 9th-10th, and the dual team finals will occur on Saturday, May 17th.