Boys and girls both advance to Elite Eight in state playoffs
April 26, 2016
It was two completely different stories for the boys and girls tennis teams of Starr’s Mill yesterday in their state playoff matchups, but both teams moved onto the quarterfinals. The boys won convincingly and quickly over Winder-Barrow, while the girls took the more challenging route but still walked away victorious against Flowery Branch.
The boys team won all four matches that they played, composed of two singles matches and two doubles. The Panthers only lost one game all day, achieving a near-complete sweep.
Senior Dubie Dubin won the first match in singles play 6-0, 6-0. Fellow senior Max Yelkin followed and did the exact same thing, not losing a game in the match.
Doubles matches also moved along quickly, with senior Shaaz Peerani teaming with junior Noah McPherson to win 6-0, 6-0. The only game the Panthers lost in the day came in the other doubles match, when junior Cam Kelly and sophomore Davis Wall won the match 6-1, 6-0.
The girls ended up winning 3-1 to advance, but took the long way around. Sophomore Elena Wernecke won 6-2, 6-3 in her singles match to start off before junior Sydney Soto made it a little more interesting. She won the first set 6-0, but dropped the first set for Starr’s Mill of the day 6-4 after that. Soto capped off the match with a 6-4 win in the third set.
Junior Olivia Walker and freshman Caroline Kingsley lost the first match of the day for the Panthers in the first doubles match, but senior Mary Katherine Lloyd and freshman Megan Fox got the clinching victory for the team in the other doubles match with a 6-2, 6-3 win.
Both teams move on to play Cambridge, whose boys and girls teams both earned the No. 1 seed from Region 7-AAAAA, for a spot in the state semifinals. A coin toss determined that Starr’s Mill will host tomorrow afternoon. The girls will play first and are scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
