Academic Magnet beat Waccamaw 5-1 in the Class AA Lower State Finals on Tuesday, Nov. 3, earning the Raptors a third straight trip to the state championship.
The North Charleston school's girls tennis team (18-2) will play St. Joseph's Catholic for the South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) AA title Saturday, Nov. 7, at 10 a.m. at the Cayce Tennis Center in Cayce, according to the CCSD sports update.
A win would complete a three-peat.
The Raptors have now claimed three consecutive Lower State titles. They beat Philip Simmons 6-0 in the Lower State Semifinals before hosting Waccamaw in the title match, according to a CCSD update posted Oct. 29.
Maggie Schwartz, the team's No. 1 singles player, has been central to the program's run. A three-year varsity standout, Schwartz helped lead Academic Magnet to back-to-back AA state championships before this season, according to a CCSD student-athlete spotlight published in August. She was named the SCHSL AA girls' tennis player of the year in 2025.
St. Joseph's Catholic enters the final as the Upper State champion. The Knights were seeded fifth in the Upper State bracket and upset top-seeded Pendleton 4-3 in the third round of the Class 2A playoffs, according to a post on the school's website. That match came down to No. 1 doubles, where junior Lyla Cate Frye and sophomore Sara Gutierrez rallied from a first-set loss to clinch the win in a third-set tiebreaker.
The SCHSL tennis page lists the 2A championship for Courts 7-12 at the Cayce Tennis Center on Saturday morning. Academic Magnet, the Lower State champion, will be the visiting team.
