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Lions tennis is quietly dominant
Special to the R&L
Ali Burgiss has won 10 state titles in her career at Statesville Christian.
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Published: November 8, 2009
He operates in dentistry by day and oversees a dynasty by night.
His name is Tim Burgiss, and his Statesville Christian girls' tennis team recently won its sixth consecutive N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association state championship.
The Lions, who have won their titles in the 1A division every year but 2006 when they were 2A, have redefined dominance.
"It is my senior year, and watching everyone work so hard to get this was something really special," said senior Diana Castano, the Lions No. 1 player. "It was a personal goal I set at the beginning of the season to be able to say, 'I helped Statesville Christian School reach their sixth consecutive title.' It really brings a smile to my face."
Burgiss started the tennis program seven years ago. After getting established his first season, SCS has brought the biggest trophy from the NCISAA state tourney back home to Statesville the last six years.
At the NCISAA state level, there are separate state championship tournaments for all singles and doubles positions.
A team earns points based on how well its players do in the individual tournaments, and that leads to an overall state champion.
In their most recent state conquest, the Lions were led by four singles champions. Ali Burgiss (No. 2 singles), Madolyn Essary (No. 3), Kayla Revelle (No. 4), and Abby Caudle (No. 6) all brought home individual titles.
Ali Burgiss and Castano also teamed together to win the No. 1 doubles state title while Essary and Revelle combined to win the No. 2 doubles state title.
Before this year, though, there were several key players who helped put Statesville Christian on the map.
Perhaps the most notable was Kathryn Talbert, who played for Statesville Christian through her 10th grade year.
She's now a freshman at Wake Forest, and playing well for the Deacons tennis team.
Burgiss' oldest daughter, Drew, also helped get the Lions established.
Drew, who now plays club tennis at UNC Chapel Hill, won 11 total state titles in singles and doubles play during her career with the Lions.
She had offers to play at smaller colleges, but her heart was set on attending UNC.
Ali, Tim Burgiss' youngest daughter, has picked up right where her older sister left off, winning all 10 state title events she has entered.
As a senior next year, she will try to complete a most improbable career, with two more state titles giving her a sweep of every state event she has entered since seventh grade.
Ali, who began playing competitively at age eight after Drew took up the sport, has drawn inspiration from her older sister.
"My role model is definitely my sister," Ali said. "She is so inspiring in all she does. She sends me encouraging texts all the time to lift me up. I strive to be like her in every way."
Ali tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in January, and it was uncertain how effective she would be this year.
Tim Burgiss moved Ali down to No. 2 singles, and was fortunate to have a talented senior in Castano ready to fill the No. 1 role.
"Ali started playing tennis again after seven months," Tim Burgiss said. "I was hesitant to risk injury to her by putting her back on court one playing the higher-level players, so I put Ali on court two."
The move paid off as Ali won her individual title and teamed with Castano to win the state doubles title, defeating Davidson Day School and its nationally ranked player, Jenny Falcone.
Even more importantly, Ali's knee held up over the course of a long season.
While Tim Burgiss is the head coach, he defers a lot of the credit to tennis pro Randy Pate, who operated a tennis academy in Statesville for more than 20 years before moving to Winston-Salem two years ago.
"Randy Pate deserves the credit for developing many of the players in this area," Burgiss said. "If you wanted to be a national-level player or get a college scholarship, you trained with Randy. He gave these girls a lot of the fundamentals.
"Having Randy's academy right here in our backyard helped Statesville tennis greatly, whether it was Statesville Christian or Statesville High. He was a big help."
Pate's departure caused an exodus of some of the local tennis talent, with a number of players now training in Winston-Salem.
The local cupboard, however, is not bare, as club pro Jason Little has stepped in and begun to train aspiring young tennis stars in Iredell County.
That has especially helped Statesville Christian, which has about 80 high school students and relies on middle school players to compete.
"In a private school, you can actually play a varsity sport as a seventh grader if you're needed and if you're good enough," Tim Burgiss said.
The Lions, who lose two of their top three players to graduation, may be hard-pressed to win their seventh consecutive title in 2010.
Ali Burgiss returns, but there will be more youth on the court than in years past.
"It's going to be more challenging to continue on with the dynasty," Tim Burgiss said. "We will have Ali and Kayla (Revelle) back. Our younger players are excited.
"You never know what will happen. We'll just have to wait and see."
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