RIDGELAND — St. Aloysius sent three doubles teams to the Class 1A finals Tuesday at the Ridgeland Tennis Center. One pair came home champions, while the other two were left thinking what might have been.

The Flashes’ No. 1 boys doubles team of Steven Cialone and Michael Foley took just 48 minutes to romp to the Class 1A title by blasting Sacred Heart’s Carter Andrews and Chris Wilkins 6-1, 6-0.

St. Al’s other pairs weren’t as fortunate. The No. 1 girls doubles team of Ashleigh Piazza and Jean-Marie Mabry had 5-4 leads in two sets, but wound up dropping both on tiebreakers. Sacred Heart’s Greer Andrews and Emily Nettles won the state title 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (8-6).

The third St. Al finalists were Brianna Beesley and Aaron Mathis in mixed doubles. They were down 4-1 in the second set and battled to even it up. But they lost the next two games and the match, 6-4, 6-4 to Sacred Heart’s Elizabeth Farrell and Jack Wilkins.

The final results were enough to leave second-year St. Al coach Rick Shields upbeat. Beesley was the lone senior among the six players who played in Tuesday’s finals. Austin Mathis, who lost in Monday’s semifinals, will return.

“Definitely proud of what we did,” Shields said. “Jean-Marie and Ashley had lost 6-2, 6-2 to that team last week in the team competition. It shows how much better they could do with more confidence.”

Mabry, who won the Class 1A No. 2 girls doubles title last year with Beesley, felt the past summer helped improve her game.

“We played more tournaments last summer and everything got better,” Mabry said. “We kept fighting, even when we were down 4-1 in the first set. We were just one good point away.”

Cialone and Foley have plenty of tennis in front of them. Cialone is a sophomore and Foley is just a freshman.

“Those two are going to be good for awhile,” Shields said. “They were 13-3 this year. One loss was to St. Andrew’s, who won 3A today, and the other two were to Clinton and Madison Central.”

Foley said it helps to know each other’s strengths.

“Steven is a way better playing the volley than me,” Foley said.

Cialone says he plays well off Foley’s game.

“He has good ground strokes and that really sets me up well,” Cialone said.

Cialone said he expected a much tougher match from the Sacred Heart pair but didn’t get it.

“I played Chris Wilkins two years ago with Aaron and we lost,” Cialone said. “We had to put it to them today.”

Shields likes how the future shapes up for the Flashes, which move to the North half next year.

“The Greer girl from Sacred Heart came out of nowhere this year, but they lose her and their strongest boy, and another from the mixed doubles team,” Shields said.