CARY — Over a span of three days when nothing seemed to go as planned, East Surry’s Megan Shelton capped her season with the perfect ending. Shelton, the top seed from the West, defeated East No. 1 seed Lori Wang of Raleigh Charter, 6-1, 6-4, to claim the NCHSAA 1A singles tennis title Saturday in Raleigh.

“It feels good,” Shelton said of winning the title. “I really didn’t know how that Lori Wang girl (played). I really didn’t know what I had coming up.”

The unexpected seemed to be the theme of the week.

On Thursday, Shelton’s father, Greg Payne, received a call that Cardinals coach Phil Jordan had a detached retina and needed emergency surgery. So Payne ended up taking his daughter to Cary, where she won three matches, all in straight sets, to become champion.

“It’s overwhelming,” he said. “It’s been one of the greatest experiences of my life.”

The only problematic set in the tournament for Shelton was the final one against Wang.

“I just kind of started playing bad because I thought I had it,” she lamented. “She started moving me around and I got kind of mad about it.”

Wang wasn’t able to sustain her rally and Shelton came out on top. A quick pep talk and some strategy form her father/interim coach calmed the senior down.

”Right now as coach I’m 3-0 and undefeated,” Payne quipped. “I’m going to retire after today.”

Saturday’s match was supposed to begin at 9:30 a.m., but was pushed back until the afternoon due to inclement weather. Having an important match delayed for three hours has an affect on the players.

“It kind of makes you tired and then when you get out there you’re kind of tight,” Shelton said.

The Northwest 1A/2A Conference player of the year, who took a pair of extended breaks over the last two years, said it felt good to be champion and that the breaks didn’t have any affect on her play. When she wasn’t on the Cardinals’ roster, she still played on her own and worked out at the Randy Pate Tennis Academy. Shelton has received interest to play collegiately at numerous schools, but has yet to make a decision.

In the doubles final, Mount Airy’s Ellie Case and Jordan Gwyn fell to Teresa Pincus and Laura Outlaw of North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Case and Gwyn won the first set, 7-6 (7-2), but fell in the next two by counts of 7-5 and 6-4. Case and Gwyn made it to the state semifinals last season.

“They worked hard all year, just like they did last year,” Mount Airy coach Scott Kniskern said. “There was definitely improvement on their part from last year to this year. That was their goal, to do better than they did last year and they did. They should feel real proud of what they’ve done this year.”

Contact Ed Phillipps at ephillipps@mtairynews.com or 719-1921.