Parents have commended Warren Central’s tennis coach Jeff Pilgrim on turning the Vikings into a competitive team.

Although Warren Central’s 7-0 loss to Madison Central in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs doesn’t reflect the production at Halls Ferry Park.

“I thought we played well. That’s a team that gets players coming into the seventh grade that are already varsity caliber,” Pilgrim said. “We’ve worked and worked and worked in the last two years and we competed with them.”

With the exception of the girls singles match between Warren Central’s Lauren Davis and Madison Central’s Megan Humphreys, the remaining six games had at least one game won by the Vikings.

Pilgrim and Madison Central coach Brad Boteler agree that the boys, and mixed doubles matches turned out to be the closest of the afternoon.

Brent Stiles and George Wilkerson dropped both sets 6-4 to William Pratt and Conner Fudge in the boys No. 2 matchup, while Joseph Jabour and Amanda Bouleware faced a similar fate at the hands of the Jaguars’ Ann Cabot Stockett and Kyle Anderson.

“Those two matches were very, very close; very, very competitive,” Pilgrim said. “Outside of that, girls No. 2 (Madison Kendall, Skylar Gibson) and boys No. 1 (Matt Register, William Wooten) were also the second tier to being the most competitive today.”

Boteler applauded Warren Central for being a tough opponent.

“Warren Central played well. We had some really close first sets, even some of the sets that might have been 6-2, 6-3. The games were very close. Both teams came out to play and I just thought we did a good job answering their intensity,” Boteler said.

Two years ago, the Vikings were unable to play well against a talented team like Madison Central.

But, parents have routinely made Pilgrim aware of their satisfaction in his coaching.

When the Vikings and Jaguars met in 2014, only the mixed doubles match was competitive.

Pilgrim said the results of the other matches in that competition was 6-2 or worse.

Last year’s game against Tupelo yielded an analogous ending.

“Both my girls doubles lost 6-0, 6-0; 6-1, 6-0,” Pilgrim said adding that his boys No. 2 forced a third-set tiebreaker. “Mixed wasn’t competitive and boys singles wasn’t competitive so it’s a big jump from last year.”

Pilgrim will take more than half of his players to the 2016 MHSAA tennis championship on May 9 at the Parham Bridges Tennis Center in Jackson.

Alex Velazquez and Lauren Davis qualified as runners-up in boys and girls singles. The boys No. 2 team of Stiles and Wilkerson along with Joseph Jabour and Amanda Bouleware in mixed doubles, Olivia White and Alexa Jeffers in girls doubles are headed to Jackson as well.

“Anytime you go into a tournament in this game you’re going to be a little bit anxious, you’re going to be a little nervous,” Pilgrim said.

“If you weren’t that means you don’t care. These kids, they care. They love this game. There’s going to be some anxiety but that’s a good thing. As soon as they hit the first ball all that would go away and they’ll start playing the way they know how to play.”