MADISON COUNTY — The 2024 Madison County tennis tournament featured an all-area championship.

It was also a rematch of last year’s semifinal in which Pendleton Heights ended Lapel’s streak of nine straight county titles with a 4-1 win.

With a 3-2 win on Friday, the Bulldogs got revenge and returned to their spot atop the county.

Sealing the victory was a come-from-behind effort by Quinn Wilkins at No. 3 singles.

With all other matches finished, and things tied at 2-2, Wilkins and Pendleton Heights senior Sean Cunningham battled for the deciding point.

Wilkins dropped Set 1 7-5 to Cunningham but stormed back for the win in Set 2 and Set 3.

The second set went to Wilkins 6-4, and the deciding set was won 6-2.

The first point of the night went to the Arabians at No. 1 singles. Austin Perny defeated Hogan Biar 6-4, 6-3, but the Bulldogs tied things up almost immediately. At No. 2 singles, the hero of Thursday’s semifinal, Kaleb Barnett, put the Bulldogs on the board with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Owen Kean.

Lapel and Pendleton Heights split the doubles matches with the Arabians taking the point at No. 2 doubles and the Bulldogs at the No. 1 spot.

In the No. 2 match, Pendleton Heights’ Parker Cook and Bradae Souders won easily, 6-2, 6-2 vs. Aidan Gooding and Bode McClintock.

The No. 1 match was won by Lapel’s Tyler Cash and Cam Novak 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 vs. Pendleton Heights’ Ivan Chen and Garrett Morgan.

The runner-up finish was the fourth straight year the Arabians have fallen in the championship match.

To get there, they swept Elwood 5-0 on Wednesday and defeated Anderson on Thursday.

Lapel’s route to the title was maybe the toughest of all teams.

In the opening round, it defeated Alexandria 4-1 to set up at semifinal matchup against last year’s champion, Madison-Grant.

Similar to the final against Pendleton Heights, the semis came down to the last match on the court.

This time, the final point was won by the freshman, Barnett, at No. 3 singles.

Barnett took Set 1 6-0, but Madison-Grant’s Ben Pax evened things with a dominant 6-1 win in Set 2.

Down 2-1 in the final set, Barnett won five straight sets to send the Bulldogs through to the championship.

The Bulldogs other two points in the match came at No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles.

In the singles match, Wilkins defeated Leo Hood, and in the doubles, Cash and Novak knocked off Keagan Brown and Lucas Richards.

Madison-Grant’s Luke Gilman defeated Bair at No. 1 singles, and Luke Nelson and Lucas Query took down McClintock and Gooding at No. 2 doubles.