WINDSOR – It was a grueling six-hour affair.

Bertie High School and Currituck County High School battled from 4 p.m. until 10:11 p.m. last Thursday before the Lady Falcons came out on the winning side of a 5-4 tennis victory.

“I felt like I had played the game with the girls because I was sweating just like they were,” veteran BHS tennis coach Jackie Copeland said. “After the match was over, our fans and Currituck’s both knew what a wonderful match we had seen.”

The teams split the single’s outings with each coming away with three victories.

Carmen Villamoor, the top-seed for the Lady Falcons, got things started with a victory as she knocked off Meghan Matulewicz 6-1 and 6-2.

Second-seeded Haley Williams also recorded a victory for the Lady Falcons as she edged Ashleigh Cleveland in a tie-breaker.

The third and final singles victory for the Lady Falcons came at the number five seed where Brook Bowen bounced back after losing the first set 6-4 and defeated Erin Rymiszewski 6-4 and then 11-9 in a tiebreaker.

Bertie’s Kate White (number five seed) and Kelsey White (number six seed) each lost during tiebreakers while Currituck’s Marina Pickell edged Tori Dunlow by dual counts of 6-4.

In doubles action, Bertie’s top-seeded team of Villamoor and Williams suffered a 10-8 setback to Matulewicz and Lindsey Hewitt.

The Lady Falcons bounced back, however, as third-seeded Kelsey White and Kate White topped Picknell and Rymiszewski by a count of 10-5.

That set the stage for a two-hour battle with Dunlow and Bowen squaring off with Cleveland and Ayla Crum. That matchup finished in a 10-10 tie setting the stage for a tie-breaker that Dunlow and Bowen won 7-4.

“Brook and Tori played their hearts out for over two hours to bring home the win,” Copeland said.

The Lady Falcon mentor said she was proud of her entire team, even those who didn’t play, because of the way the entire group supported each other and wanted to win as a team.

Bertie improved to 2-0 overall and 2-0 in the Northeastern Coastal Conference with the victory. They will be back in action Tuesday when they travel to Edenton for another league contest.