Four Washington tennis players make the trek to Cary on Friday to compete in the 2-A state championship. The duos of Holt and Ben McKeithan and Mac Skillen and Zack Pagnani punched their tickets last week at the eastern regional and each have their sights set on doubles gold.

The McKeithan brothers are coming off a regional championship. This is familiar territory for the tandem, which had its shot at the title last year.

“I’m very excited. Going to states has been my goal all year,” Holt McKeithan said before practice on Thursday. “Last year we lost in the final at regionals. Our goal this year was to win regionals and get back to states and try and make some noise.”

The key to success is stepping up to the level of competition. The opposition got harder at the regional and the McKeithans were able to rise to the occasion. They did so against non-conference foes like Fike and Conley much earlier in the season, too. Washington, as a team, went 1-1 in home-and-home series against both teams this year.

“You’ve got to step up your game as the competition goes on because each level you play better and better guys,” McKeithan said. “Seeing good guys in regionals and states last year helped prepare us for this year. We had a couple of good matches in non-conference in the regular season, which helped prepare us.”

The McKeithan brother have been doing their best to share that experience with Pagnani and Skillen. They got a good idea of the level of competition they’d face recently at the regional.

Coach Miranda Whitley’s main goal at this point in the season is to keep the four state-championship competitors sharp and ready for action. There’s no sense in reinventing the wheel this late in the season and Washington hasn’t even had much time to practice after traveling to the North Carolina School of Science & Math for Tuesday’s dual team playoff match.

That said, she did have all four work on their services ahead of Friday.

“One main thing that they need to work on and that I’ve been talking to them about is holding their service games,” Whitley said. “Holt and Ben played doubles on Tuesday and Holt’s serve was not what it normally is. Mac had serving troubles on Tuesday. That’ll be something to look for (on Friday).”

Holt McKeithan got to practice about 15 minutes early on Thursday just to spend time working on his serves. The other three weren’t far behind him, looking to also improve in that regard.

Whitley’s expectations for Friday go further than winning or losing. More so than winning or losing, she hoping for Washington’s four representatives to stay calm and enjoy the moment.

“I just hope that they can have a good attitude. That was one thing I told them,” she said. “I knew going into Tuesday’s match that (NCSSM) was going to be a good team. I told them to just stay positive and not beat themselves up after every point. There’s definitely that same expectation for tomorrow.”

The McKeithans earned the first seed out of the east. Skillen and Pagnani will go in as the fourth seed.