ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES / ANDREW PEARSON • MAY 23, 2010
BURLINGTON — Doubles the pleasure, doubles the fun . . .

Using doubles to do it, Asheville High staged a comeback Saturday that was about as improbable as it gets in team tennis.
The Cougars overcame a 4-2 deficit to sweep doubles and shock Cardinal Gibbons, 5-4, for the NCHSAA 3-A championship at the Burlington Tennis Center.
Sophomores Stuart DePaolo and Tito Poplawski were the only players to prevail in their singles matches.
But when things could not look any direr for the Mountain Athletic Conference champions, they won all three doubles matches. The Cougars' top pairing of Poplawski and Morris Porter upset 3-A doubles runners-up Chris Geaslen and Matt Daly in a heart-stopping tiebreaker, 11-10 (10-8) to clinch the state title.
Poplawski broke down in tears when asked to describe the morning.
“It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me,” Poplawski said.
“It was pure heart. We won a point here, a point there, but it was just pure heart.”
Cardinal Gibbons, a private school in the Raleigh area, had won the last four 2-A state championships before moving up to 3-A this year.
Saturday's title was the second one for the Asheville boys (19-1) but their first since 1996.
And to think, they nearly didn't make it to doubles.
DePaolo thumped winner after winner past Geaslen to win their No. 1 singles match, 6-4, 6-2.
But the Raleigh-based Crusaders (22-5) took decisive victories at No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6.
Cardinal Gibbons was on the verge of ending the match when Poplawski gutted out a 2-6, 6-2 (10-6) win over Daly in No. 2 singles.
“It was a really brave effort from Tito,” Cougars coach Jerry Porter said.
“There's no way to describe what these guys did today. They showed so much heart. I'm so proud of every one of these kids.”
In doubles, DePaolo and Leon Poplawski cruised past the team of Killian Steer-Greg Galush, 10-3, in the No. 2 spot. At No. 3, Will Lewis and David Howerton also came through for the Cougars, putting away Andrew Rinderer and Pierce Beary, 10-8.
However, the match ultimately came down to Tito Poplawski again. He and Morris Porter clung to a 9-7 lead at one point in the final doubles match, but also trailed 8-5 in the tiebreaker.
Geaslen hit a backhand return from Poplawski into the net to end the match.
“What a sensational feeling,” DePaolo said.
“We were never supposed to be here. We weren't supposed to beat Charlotte Catholic (in the 3-A Western Regional championship match) and we weren't supposed to win today. This is going to stay with me forever.”