CARY - Haleigh Morgus and her Cary Academy girls tennis teammates felt all summer they were returning a strong team that could make a run at a state team title this season.

And now that the Chargers are a couple of weeks into the fall season, their confidence has been boosted by win in the prestigious Florence (S.C.) Tennis Association tournament followed by a dual match victory over East Chapel Hill's strong program.

"I definitely think we can make a run at state,” Morgus said. “After the Florence tournament, we feel like we bonded well together. All the doubles teams are meshing now. We feel like if we support each other, we can win close matches. We got so much closer after the Florence tournament.”

Morgus, who boasts a USTA girls 18 ranking of No. 4 in North Carolina, leads Cary Academy as a senior playing No. 1 singles as well as No. 1 doubles with her sister, No. 2 singles Anastasia Morgus.

Haleigh swept her matches in Wednesday's 6-3 win over East Chapel Hill on the Chargers' courts with a 6-3, 6-1 win in singles and an 8-2 decision in doubles. Anastasia, a sophomore, won her singles match, 6-4, 6-3. "My sister and I really played well in doubles,” Haleigh said. “I love playing with her. We have some telepathic thing among us. When we switch sides, we don't need to say anything. We mesh and flow. We fight sometimes (against each other singles), but we play well together in doubles.”

After the Morgus sisters, freshman Jessie Liu won her No. 3 singles matches 6-1, 6-0 and senior Olivia Banks took No. 4 singles 6-0, 6-1.

The Chargers' sixth team point came from Liu and freshman Alex Udell at No. 3 doubles with an 8-5 win.

"We have a strong team and we have depth this year,” Cary Academy coach Styrling Strother said. “Our Nos. 4 through 10 players are very competitive.”

Added Haleigh Morgus, “We're really excited about our team this year. We have some new freshmen – Jessie Liu, Alex Udell and Sydney Johnson --- that are helping us a lot.”

The Chargers are so balanced, Strother didn't send the same lineup out against East Chapel Hill to improve to 3-0 in dual matches that he used to win the Florence tournament.

Junior Corinna Egge won a grueling match at No. 5 singles at Florence, so Strother gave her a match off against East Chapel Hill.

"There was a lot of competitive tennis out there in this match,” Strother said. “There was a lot of grinding for points. Even if the score was 6-1, there were long rallies for the points.”

East Chapel Hill lost for only the second time in seven matches this season, but coach Lindsey Linker said she likes to schedule an early non-conference dual with Cary Academy to prepare her team for the remainder of the season.

"It's a good learning experience for us,” she said. “Playing good competition is how you get better.”