When it was over, as the winning shot danced across the court, skimmed the pollen-dusted surface once and touched down a second time to signal the end of a four-and-a-half hour epic tennis match and a years-long winning streak, there was near silence. Like what had just happened, no one — neither the participants nor the observers — was quite sure it actually had.

During that brief moment in which the dozens of people at Annie Jones Park tried to process Apex’s exhilarating 5-4 victory over Green Hope on Thursday, the only sound was the buzz of the fluorescent lights over the courts that had been turned on at the match’s three-hour mark because daylight had disappeared.

Then Apex coach Ryan Phelps leapt through the air, as if a lightning bolt had just struck the ground beneath his heels. As he reached his players who were clustered outside Court 1, it began to sink in.

On the court, Wesley Barrett, who along with Viking Edeback staged a stunning comeback to win their doubles match in a tiebreaker and clinch the win for the Cougars, turned toward his teammates. He ripped off his shirt and flung it into the evening air, index fingers pointed skyward to let everyone know, at that moment, he and his Apex compatriots were No. 1.

In reality, the result created a tie atop the Tri-Eight tennis standings with four matches remaining in the regular season. But the win meant so much more to Apex because it had done something no one in the conference had done in nearly seven seasons — beat Green Hope. The loss was the Falcons’ first to a Tri-Eight opponent in 82 matches.

“Amazing,” said Apex senior Elliot Wickham. “It’s indescribable. It’s worth crying over.”

That was a sentiment shared by Phelps, who said the match was among the best he’s ever experienced in his 11 years as the Apex coach. Phelps couldn’t help but fight back tears after Barrett said his coach was part of the inspiration for the comeback that led to victory.

“Honestly, I thought of Coach,” Barrett said. “I feel like I owe Coach. I said that to Viking. It’s about Coach. I felt him. He’s not too emotional, but deep down, I felt what he wanted. I wanted it to, but that was a little extra motivation.”

It took nearly three hours to complete the six singles matches, after which each team had won three. Edeback was the first one to leave the court, having defeated Taylor Elliott 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2.

Green Hope’s Luke Wickelgren won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2, and Apex’s John Crick won 6-1, 6-4 over Kia Bazzaz at No. 6. At No. 1, Green Hope’s Jake Bowling overcame 4-2 deficits in both sets to defeat Barrett 7-5, 6-4.

The Nos. 4 and 5 matches both went to three sets. At No. 5, Green Hope’s Kevin Terrill lost the first set 6-4 and was down 5-4 in the second set before coming back to win 7-5 and 6-2 in the third. At No. 4, Apex’s Gibson Smith overcame a 6-4 first-set loss to Eason Lee and won the final two 7-5, 6-0.

Heading into doubles, one team needed to win two matches in order to win the match.

“We competed well in doubles last time,” said Phelps, whose team won two of three doubles matches in the season’s first meeting that Green Hope won 5-4. “I reminded them we’re in a better position, but we still have to finish the match. They did a remarkable job of competing in doubles.”

Wickham and Smith were the first ones to complete their match, earning an 8-5 win over David Heine and Bazzaz. But soon after, Green Hope’s Lee and Terrill won 8-5 at No. 3, tying the match at 4-4 and leaving the No. 1 doubles teams to determine the outcome.

“That’s what it deserves,” said Green Hope coach Andrew Tuttle. “It came down to No. 1 doubles. Those are the top players on both teams. Let them settle it.”

Green Hope’s Bowling and Elliott took a 7-4 lead and needed just one last game to clinch the match, and in all likelihood, an outright claim to the Tri-Eight title.

“Coach was telling us, ‘It’s not over yet. Stay focused,’” Edeback said. “In between almost every point, Wesley and I would say, ‘This is match point right here. This is the point we need to win.’ And it just happened.”

Barrett and Edeback broke Elliott’s serve to make it 7-5. Barrett held serve to make it 7-6. They broke Bowling’s serve to tie it 7-7. Then Edeback held serve to make it 8-7.

Elliott held serve to make it 8-8 and force a tiebreaker, but Barrett and Edeback went up 3-1 and then won four of the last six points to complete the comeback and win their match 9-8 (7-5) and clinch the win for their team.

“I’m usually pretty reserved,” Phelps said. “I don’t know if it was euphoria or relief. I’m just so proud of how this team has competed all season. And I think as happy as I am, I’m even happier for them and what they’ve accomplished. Viking and Elliot have been here four years. Green Hope’s conference run has been unbelievable, and I’m just so happy for those two seniors to win and do it here.”