As dominant as Broughton was last year in dual-team tennis, finishing 20-0 as state champions, perhaps its closest call came at Cary Tennis Park against Green Hope.

The Caps needed two tiebreakers to break through 6-3 on the way to their championship run.

The Falcons will return its top two players from last year's 20-3 team that won the conference, but will miss its coach. Kevin Taylor resigned last spring as his family was moving out of state.

Green Hope will be extremely strong at the top with seniors Melissa Kandinata and Helen Wang. Kandinata was a state semifinalist in the 4-A singles competition, and her loss there was her only one all year.

Wang, like Kandinata, was one of four singles players to advance out of last year's 4-A Mideast region. Green Hope is also returning players Brianna Steele and Audrey Channell.

Athens Drive (14-9): The Jaguars return their top seven players, including four state qualifiers. Cammie Delforge, Jill Zaccardelli, Allison Menius and Sheley Reister return at Nos. 1 through 4.

Cardinal Gibbons (22-5): The Crusaders return all six starters from a team that reached the NCHSAA 3-A quarterfinals. Junior Lauren Booker has a career singles mark of 41-8. She was the state 2-A singles champion in 2008 and a quarterfinalist last year. Sophomore Caroline Smith was 19-6 at No. 2 singles and senior Rachael Lynch-Daniels is 34-14 in her career. She will play in the No. 3 position. Senior Cori Krause brings a 33-5 career record to No. 4 singles.

Cary Academy (10-12): Senior Tiffany Williams is ranked No. 17 in North Carolina 18s.

Apex (11-5): How close was Apex to making the playoffs last year? Perhaps too close. When the initial brackets were released, the Cougars were listed as the second wild-card team. But hours later, they were removed for Person County. Seniors Shelby Bickel and Nikki Bowser have teamed up to win the last two doubles conference championships.

Panther Creek (16-4): Panther Creek coach Stephen Solis led the Catamounts to a 14-2 conference record and first-ever wins over Athens and Apex. Claire Wach, Brooke Namboodri and Quyen Nugyen return as state qualifiers in doubles.