Morgan Academy’s Ellie Adams served an ace to end the day at the 2018 AISA state tennis tournament at Lagoon Park in Montgomery Tuesday afternoon.

She and her partner Lilly Youngblood defeated Tuscaloosa Academy’s No. 1 pair 6-4, 6-4 in the last game of the tournament.

The win helped the Morgan Academy tennis program earn its second consecutive AISA state tennis title.

“We had a great year and a great season,” Morgan’s head coach Baxter Stinson said. “These kids have worked hard.”

Adams and Youngblood just smiled and gave each other a celebratory high-five before shaking the hands of their opponents and leaving the court.

Even though the entire team has a business as usual approach, the players were excited to have achieved their goal.

The girls team were one match away from sweeping the state tournament after losing just one of the singles finals.

Adams won the No.1 singles finals against Eastwood 6-7,6-2 and 7-5.

Youngblood won the No.2 singles finals 6-2, 6-4 against Tuscaloosa Academy.

Maggie Youngblood won the No.3 singles finals 4-6, 6-2 and 6-1 against Fort Dale Academy.

Mary Ashlyn Pearce won the No.5 singles finals 6-4, 6-0 against Fort Dale.

Maggie and Pearce won the No.2 doubles finals against Fort Dale.

“The girls have played awesome all year,” Stinson said. “We lost three sets in the regular season, and you can’t always do that. It’s tougher to bring that game to the championship, and they were able to do it.”

The boys team wasn’t as dominant, but still won the majority of the finals matches.

Ed Williams defeated Monroe Academy in the No.3 finals 6-0, 6-4.

Tyler Wilson defeated Glenwood 6-2, 6-1 in the No.4 finals.

Byron Jones defeated Tuscaloosa Academy 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 5 finals.

Williams and Jones defeated Tuscaloosa Academy in the No.2 doubles 6-2, 6-1.

The boys won the state title outright last season, but the girls team was co-champions with Tuscaloosa Academy.

“Last year, we won it alongside Tuscaloosa Academy,” Adams said. “It feels even better this time that we’re not co-state champions, but we are the state champions.”

Both the boys and girls were able to claim sole ownership of the AISA trophies presented after the final matches.

“We’re glad that all our work has finally paid off,” Williams said. “It’s what we were hoping for all year long. We knew we could do it, and we’re able to pull it out.”

The tennis program finished the regular season undefeated, and only dropped a few sets during their dominant season. Playing in the state tournament required a lot of stamina from the players who made it to the finals. Adams, Maggie, Lilly, Pearce, Williams and Jones each played six matches in two days between their singles and doubles matches.

The Senators tennis team brought back two championship trophies and each of their individual awards back to Selma with them, but the team isn’t done yet.

The Senators will have all of its players returning next season, and will be aiming for a three-peat in 2019.

“I know expectations going into the season were very high after coming off a state championship year last year and not losing many seniors,” Morgan athletic director Josh Thacker said. “Baxter does such a great job with those kids. We expect another championship next year.”