DURHAM — Having already met its preseason goal of advancing past Round 2 in the NCHSAA 2-A dual team tennis playoffs, Washington boarded the bus on Monday afternoon with little to lose.

A second-consecutive Eastern Plains Conference championship? Easy. More than one individual state qualifier? Check. Earning a top seed in the postseason tournament? Done. To head coach Miranda Whitley and No. 1 Connor Wilkins, anything beyond the second round was considered an added bonus to what’s already been a historic season.

But that season came to an end in Round 3 at the hands of the undefeated North Carolina School of Science and Math, a team that hasn’t dropped a dual team match in more than two years. Yet, from No. 1 singles to No. 3 doubles, Washington battled and put up the best results against the Unicorns since March 26, 2014, when NCSSM defeated the Durham School of the Arts, 6-3, in a regular season matchup.

“They had only lost one (individual) match all season, but we were able to get three against them, 6-3, so that feels good to know we did better than all the other teams they played,” Whitley said.

On the bus to Durham, there was one blatant absence. Wilkins, who had pulled a calf muscle in the individual state championships, woke up on Monday with a stomach ailment. But that didn’t stop him from suiting up for the Pam Pack one final time. After driving to the courts separately with his father, Wilkins pieced together a dominant center court match against NCSSM’s No. 1, junior Guy Blanc, 6-1, 6-2.

“They didn’t really have a player who truly stood out, but they were all equal in ability and they were able to win the lower matches, which I think is what helped them out the most,” Wilkins said. “When everyone is the same ability, the lower players (on our team) aren’t used to that kind of player.”

“The kid I played was very small, very quick, and had a lot of topspin on both sides. He was a little sporadic though, missing a lot of forehands, but I played pretty well considering my condition.”

Holt McKeithan, playing No. 2 singles, also put up a surprisingly solid result against junior Kevin Chen. The Washington junior covered ground and managed to get up a break early, taking he first set, 6-4. Holt McKeithan went on to power through the second set quite comfortably, 6-1.

After a strong start from the top of the lineup, NCSSM’s incomparable depth began to take shape. Zack Pagnani dropped his match to Tejas Dalvi, 6-1, 6-1, while Eric Crozier dropped No. 4 singles, 6-0, 6-0, to Shouri Gottiparthi. In No. 5 singles, Mac Skillen fell to Vishal Naik, 6-2, 6-2.

In what Whitley called the most exciting match of the afternoon (and longest), sophomore Ben McKeithan went shot for shot with junior Justin Yang, but was unable to overcome two break points. McKeithan dropped No. 6 singles, 6-4, 6-4.

In doubles, after losing to Blanc and Dalvi at the individual state championships, Holt and Ben McKeithan got their revenge against NCSSM’s No. 2 team, winning in pro-set tiebreakers, 9-8 (7-5). However, the doubles teams of Wilkins and Pagnani (10-3) and Crozier and Skillen (10-3) dropped their matches by significant margins.

“I think (the season) was absolutely a success,” Wilkins said. “Both as a team and myself, individually, we’ve done things the program really hasn’t done before. We’ve made history. At the start of the season we were a little shaky and we didn’t know how it would play out, but as the season progressed, we started to gel some more and really come together as a team.”

“I certainly feel like I’m leaving a team behind that can certainly do very well without me. I don’t make that team. Everybody else is there and they do their part too. I feel like I’ve progressed as a player, certainly since freshman year, and I now I’m not only a better player, but a better person. I can definitely take that with me moving forward.”

Washington closes out 12-3 (8-0 EPC) and graduates just one senior in the top six, Wilkins, later this month. NCSSM advances to the 2-A dual team eastern regional championship.