The Belton Hall of Fame Classic is an invitational tournament for some of the best high school tennis teams in South Carolina. 

Chapman girls tennis proved again that they are among the best with a third-place finish this past weekend.

Players competed individually in brackets according to their seeding, with each victory earning a certain amount of points for the team. The four-time region champions and three-time Upper State champions finished with 20 points; only AC Flora and Spartanburg finished higher.

Freshman Paige Melick saw the best results of the weekend; she dominated her competition and won the number four singles division with her signature power game.

“I felt really excited and proud to win my division because I did it for my team and family,” Melick said. “I have worked hard for this moment, and whatever you set your mind to, you can achieve.” 

Other Lady Panthers had success on the court as well. Freshman Westlyn Morris was the finalist in the number one singles division, beating an AC Flora player along the way. Senior Alex Kinlaw and junior Juliana Coates each finished third in number three singles and number five singles, respectively, with wins over opponents from Spartanburg, JL Mann, Clinton, and Belton Honea-Path.

Head tennis coach Mark Lansing emphasized that such a high level of success wouldn’t have been possible without contributions from the entire team.

 “We were able to place in all five lines (of singles), but then also we had to win the last two doubles and the last singles match to move ahead of the other teams,” Lansing said. “It was really a team effort; everyone contributed; everybody performed when they had to.” 

Lansing was very excited and proud of the Lady Panthers’ results, especially in such a high-level tournament.

“I knew we were going up against the most elite teams in the area, and many of them were 5A schools,” Lansing said. “I just wanted to compete, and for them to perform as well as they did, I was super proud of them.”