By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — It was steaming hot as the season got under way in August, and Salisbury girls tennis coach Roarke Burton figured he needed a hat to keep the sun off his head.

He wasn’t seeking anything special like a beret or a beanie, just a nice, old-fashioned cap with a Salisbury Hornets logo on it, a cap that would identify the youthful Burton as a coach when the Hornets went on the road.

Derek Butler, Salisbury’s AD, located one for him.

Burton put it on, and was amused and amazed at the horrified looks his new headgear received from a fashion-conscious tennis team.

“Well, it’s not really a tennis hat, it’s a baseball cap, with one of those wide, flat brims,” Burton said. “OK, I admit it looked a little strange. As soon as the girls saw it they were screaming at me to take it off, like it was the most terrible thing they’d ever seen. It was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, that hat is so awful.’ They pleaded with me to take it off.”

Burton is the coach. He has the last word. He kept it on.

On Aug. 22, the Hornets made their first road trip of the season to face North Lincoln, a strong 3A squad.

“They had a really good No. 1 singles player (Emma Carver) and Millie Wymbs lost to her, and while I thought Millie and Lucy Barr had a chance to win at No. 1 doubles, I knew they were underdogs,” Burton said. “So I told them that if they won at No. 1 doubles, I would take the hat off. I’d get rid of the hat.”

That promise proved inspirational. Wymbs and Barr must have despised the hat. They played brilliantly and won 8-4.

“I was in shock that they beat that team,” Burton said.

A pledge is a pledge and the hat had to come off. But then Burton had a brainstorm.

The player of the match — he would do the choosing — would get to wear the hat after each match.

“They liked that idea,” Burton said. “They think the hat is funny. They have a good time with it.”

And so another Salisbury girls tennis tradition was born. Now everyone wants to be the player of the match. Everyone wants to make a fashion statement with the hat. Everyone is confident she looks way better wearing the hat than Burton.

Salisbury girls tennis tradition is rarely as goofy as this, but Salisbury girls tennis tradition is as good as it gets.

The Hornets have won 360 of their last 363 conference matches, mostly in the Central Carolina Conference, where they are headed for their 21st league championship in a row.

But that incredible stretch of winning actually got started when the Hornets were still in the 3A South Piedmont Conference. It continued in the 1990s when the Hornets were in the 2A Yadkin Valley Conference for four seasons.

The Hornets have been one of the state’s top programs for decades. They have won 12 dual team state championships.

The Hornets own 10 individual singles state championships, including four by Julianne Treme and three by Susan Saunders.

Hornet doubles teams have been crowned as state champions six times.

A year ago, Burton, a former tennis player for the Salisbury boys, was recovering from a terrible scooter accident that left him with a broken skull and bleeding in the outer membrane covering the brain and the skull.

He spent four days in Intensive Care Units in Chapel Hill after the trauma, but is now fully recovered.

“A miracle,”Burton said. “The doctors tell me it’s like the injury never happened.”

A UNC graduate, Burton is making applications to medical schools. He’s also working as a medical assistant and as a part-time teacher and tennis coach at Salisbury.

The 2019 Central Carolina Conference Player of the Year when he played for the Hornets, Burton obviously can hit with the team members and help them with their strokes. So can assistant coach Bryan Wymbs, who has two daughters on the team.

Burton was asked to follow coach Milt Griffith, who had lots of success with the Hornets, He was enthusiastic about the opportunity, but Burton wasn’t sure for a while if he’d even have six players.

“Four of the top players were back (Millie Wymbs, Barr, Cora Wymbs and Meredith Williams) and Addie Griffith had good skills, even though she had not played in the top six before,” Burton said. “So we knew we had a good five, but it was kind of an ordeal. We were scrambling around for a while trying to find a sixth player.”

No. 6 has turned out to be sophomore Lola Koontz, who had not played tennis prior to this season.

“People told me about her and we were able to get her to come out,” Burton said. “She’s picked the sport up quickly. She’s played golf, so she has that good hand-to-eye coordination that you need for tennis.”

Dashia Canada decided to give tennis a try, even before Koontz did. She knows the Wymbs sisters from track and field sprinting.

“Dashia is a great athlete, but she’d never picked up a racket before,” Burton said. “The first day, she struggled to even make contact with the ball.  But she’s come a long way since then.”

Canada, a junior, is No. 7 on the Hornets’ depth chart, but she’s been a big help. She’s 3-0 at No. 3 doubles.

Now the Hornets are eight deep. They also added senior Katelyn Duran to the mix. Duran won a singles match against Lexington, so all the team members have tasted victory.

Salisbury is 7-2 overall. Regular-season losses don’t happen often for the Hornets, but their non-conference schedule is beefed up quite a bit this season.

Salisbury has won against North Lincoln, Ledford and Mooresville outside the CCC, but Salisbury lost 9-0 to 4A Lake Norman and 8-1 to Mount Airy, which has won two straight 1A state titles.

“Lake Norman was just miles ahead of us, and there wasn’t a lot we could do about that one,” Burton said. “But I was disappointed with the Mount Airy match. They’re not miles ahead of us. Their strokes may be just a little better, but the big difference in that match was their energy and their mental toughness. It was a loss, but it’s good for our girls to have experiences like that. They can see they still have things to work on, and it will help us prepare for the playoffs.”

It’s hard to believe, but the tennis regular season is already heading into the homestretch.

Senior Night for the Hornets is only about two weeks away.

“They did something cool for Senior Night last year and had the Salisbury boys play the girls in exhibition matches, sort of a battle of the sexes,” Burton said. “The plan is to do it again. It will be a fun night. Millie (Wymbs) is good. She can compete with our boys.”

Salisbury’s most recent match was a brisk one against North Rowan on Monday. The Hornets won 6-0, 6-0 in five of the singles matches and 6-1, 6-0 in the other one.

While Canada is new to tennis, she won easily in singles and doubles against the Cavaliers.

She was Burton’s player of the match.

She got to wear the hat.