MURFREESBORO – The final regular season matchup between Northeast Academy and Ridgecroft School went the same way as the first two.

The Lady Eagles took a 6-3 tennis victory over Ridgecroft last week to secure a 14-1 mark for the 2008 season and propel them into this weekend’s North Carolina Independent School Athletic Association 1-A playoffs with a near spotless mark.

Northeast won four singles matches and two doubles contests to claim the victory.

Betty Edwards, the number one seed for Northeast, claimed the first victory of the day by topping Tayler Smith 8-2. Taylor Cocke then defeated Erin Riddick in the battle of number fours by a count of 8-5.

Northeast also got a win at number five singles where Kelsey Futrell defeated Alex Riddick 8-2 and at number six thanks to Kathryn Bryant’s 8-0 win over Katie Futrell.

The Lady Rams took the second-seeded matchup when Caroline Bowman defeated LeAnn Barnes 9-7 and the number three contest where Taylor Futrell edged Kelly Edwards 8-6.

In doubles action, Bowman and Smith defeated B. Edwards and Bryant by a final of 8-6 for Ridgecroft’s lone win.

In the number two matchup, K. Edwards and Cocke knocked off Futrell and E. Riddick by a final of 8-3 while Barnes and Kalen Rose defeated A. Riddick and Roxie Daniels 8-2 in the number three seed matchup.

Both teams will advance to Wilson tomorrow (Friday) where they will participate in the 1-A state tournament. The seeding will take place tonight (Thursday) followed by two days of play.

Northeast enters the tournament ranked number five in the state in the NCISAA 1-A ranks. They trail Statesville Christian School, Kerr-Vance Academy, Greenfield School and Faith Christian School, despite having beaten Faith twice.