Battle-tested Warhorses strive to finish strong
Owen tennis faces tough regular season home stretch while postseason aspirations remain high
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
April 22, 2025
The road to a state championship is filled with obstacles, big and small. Some can even prove insurmountable, as the Owen doubles team of Blake Bradley and Rafa Kohn learned last year when an injury forced the third seeded doubles team to forgo its postseason pursuit.
The duo was among the five seniors who suited up for the Warhorses, April 21, when Owen hosted perennial powerhouse T.C. Roberson for its final regular season home game of the 2025 campaign. While the home team fell, 8-1, the match was the latest on a tough schedule designed to sharpen players’ skill as they prepare for another playoff run.
Bradley and Kohn remained undefeated (9-0) as Owen’s top doubles team.
Owen fell to 7-5, overall, in the loss, but maintains a 6-1 mark in the Western Highlands Conference, with one match remaining, scheduled for 4 p.m., Wednesday, April 23, on the road against N.C. School of Science & Math Morganton. The Warhorses qualified for the NCHSAA 2A Men’s Tennis Dual Team Playoff Tournament, which begins Monday, April 28, with a victory over Madison earlier this month.
Chemistry, leadership and an ability to push each other in practice have been keys to the success of Kohn and Bradley, according to first-year tennis coach John Faircloth.
“Anybody who coaches any sport that involves teamwork dreams of having good chemistry and camaraderie,” he said. “These two feed off each other’s energy and complement each other extremely well.”
The familiarity of playing together since their sophomore season, when the duo represented the Owen men’s team in the state championship match for the first time in four years, is an undisputed advantage on the court.
“Rafa is a very powerful player, while Blake is intuitive and athletic,” Faircloth said. “When Blake needs to be more aggressive he’s got Rafa, and when Rafa needs to calm down a little, he’s got Blake. That kind of connection doesn’t come overnight.”
Faircloth, who completed his first season on the sidelines as the Warhorse head football coach last fall, is joined by assistant coach David Bradley and Chris Barcklow, in his 10th year with the program. He credits Barcklow, who has been the head coach of the Warlassies tennis team since 2015, with instilling stability in the men’s program.
The doubles team entered this season with a goal to avenge a bitter end to last year’s state championship tournament, according to Barcklow.
“They made the final 8, but Rafa suffered a season-ending injury,” he said. “They were up, 3-2, in the third set when it happened, so it’s tough to end a season like that without actually losing on the court.”
Bradley and Kohn didn’t miss a beat this year, largely due to the latter’s rehabilitation effort, according to Barcklow.
“Rafa is fitter, stronger and faster because of how hard he worked to recover from that injury, and he and Blake have picked up right where they left off,” he said.
They are surrounded by a team with the experience of fellow senior Wayah Gore, who qualified for the NCHSAA 2A Men’s Tennis Individual Regional Tournament with 6-3 mark as a third seed singles player.
“If Wayah Gore didn’t play at Owen, he would be everybody else’s number 1 seed,” Faircloth said. “He’s such a selfless guy, and he never complains about what spot he’s competing in. He just goes out there and plays hard.”
That style resonates with the longtime football coach in his first season on the tennis courts.
“When we played our first match against Asheville, I didn’t know what to do,” Faircloth said. “I’m not making substitutions, I’m not calling plays, there are no timeouts or a headset to yell at anybody. Coaching tennis has really helped me in other areas, because it has forced me to realize I’m not always in control.”
The team has been tested by a schedule that includes matches against 4A opponents like Asheville and Roberson and the top 3A team in The Mountain Conference, North Buncombe.
“We’ve played a tough schedule this year, and the goal of that has always been to make them stronger as the season goes on,” Barcklow said.
Keeping players healthy as they close out the regular season and prepare for the playoffs will be a priority, according to Faircloth.
“You always want to be playing your best when postseason rolls around,” he said. “We just want to make sure the guys are fresh and we’re working on things that are going to benefit them. We all want to go into the playoffs playing as well as we can play.”
Photos from the final Owen tennis home match of the regular season can be viewed in the gallery at the top of the page.