Rafa Kohn and Blake Bradley repeat as West Region doubles champions

Owen tennis duo returns to NCHSAA 2A State tournament; team advances to third round of dual playoffs

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
May 4, 2025

Rafa Kohn, left, and Blake Bradley, right, celebrate the duo’s second straight 2A West Regional Championship, May 3, with Owen head tennis coach John Faircloth. The doubles team will compete in the NHCSAA 2A Individual Tennis State Championship Tournament, May 9 and 10. Photo courtesy of Owen tennis

When the top 2A individual and doubles tennis players from the western half of the state gathered at Gardner-Webb University, May 2 and 3, a pair sporting maroon and white emerged as victors for the second straight year.

Owen seniors Blake Bradley and Rafa Kohn, who successfully defended their title as NCHSAA 2A Individual West Regional Tennis Doubles Champions with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Lake Norman Charter School, will once again represent the Warhorses while competing for a state title.

The duo opened the postseason tournament with a bye, after one of the 16 teams did not show up to compete. A top seed heading into the opening round, the Warhorses dispatched R-S Central’s Landon Sims and Dean Bates, 6-0, 6-0, qualifying for the state tournament.

Kohn and Bradley overcame an early deficit the following day in the semifinal round, upsetting the No. 1 seed R-S Central duo of Ryan Garcia and Riley Coldren. The Owen doubles team closed out the opening set of the 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Hilltoppers by winning five straight games.

The duo remained undefeated in 2025, largely on the strength of a strong start in the final round against Logan Fowler and Noah Cochran. Bradley and Kohn endured a rain delay before winning the first set handily before charging back for another run of five consecutive games in the second.

The Owen doubles team will enter the NCHSAA 2A Individual Tennis State Championship Tournament, Friday, May 9 and Saturday, May 10, at the Ting Park Tennis Complex in Holly Springs. The players are returning to the tournament in which their season ended when Kohn suffered a knee injury in 2024.

“It took a ton of hard work and a positive outlook to get back to this point,” Owen assistant coach Chris Barcklow said.

The No. 10 seed Owen Warhorses will compete in the third round of the NCHSAA 2A Dual Team Tennis Playoffs, May 5, when they travel to Salisbury to face the No. 2 Hornets. Photo by Fred McCormick

As a doubles team, Bradley and Kohn are 40-1 since 2023, according to first-year tennis head coach John Faircloth. Their familiarity on the court fuels the duo’s confidence in tough matches, according to the coach.

“They have confidence in themselves, so if they drop a game it doesn’t shake them,” Faircloth said. “They do a great job of adjusting their game when something isn’t working, and tennis, like a lot of sports, can be somewhat of a chess match. Both Rafa and Blake have so many tools in their toolboxes, combined with great chemistry, so when opponents adjust they can react quickly.”

Both players were “locked in” before the regional tournament, he added.

“We left school really early on Friday, so we were like the first ones there, but that’s what they wanted,” Faircloth said. “They got in a solid practice before their first match. It was really like a business trip for them.”

Kohn and Bradley will need to continue “doing what they do” while preparing for the state tournament, according to the coach.

“As coaches, we don’t want to over-coach them at this point,” Faircloth said. “They have both been here before. You don’t get to be 40-1 over three seasons by not knowing what you’re doing. We just need to stress the opportunity while not making this moment too big.”

The duo’s victory came three days after the No. 10 seed Owen team advanced to the third round of the NCHSAA 2A Dual Tennis Playoffs, with a 6-3 win over No. 7 Newton Conover. Victories by Bradley, Kohn, senior Wayah Gore and freshman Silas Kraak gave the Warhorses a 4-0 after singles competition. Kohn and Bradley notched a fifth win for Owen, while Luke Florence and Gore recorded a 8-1 victory in the match.

“We’re getting a lot from Silas right now at our fifth spot,” Faircloth said. “He’s playing some really good tennis for us, and his win in that match at Newton Conover was big for us.”

The Warhorses will travel to Salisbury, Monday, May 5, to face the No. 2 seed Hornets. The team has not competed in the third round of the dual playoffs in more than a decade.

“We played a tough schedule during the regular season, and it really feels like that helped the guys get ready for the postseason,” Faircloth said. “We saw a high level of competition against teams like T.C. Roberson, and we finished the year with a big win over N.C. School of Science and Math Morganton. We were able to snatch some momentum and that’s only picked up in the playoffs.”