Cedartown’s tennis goes the distance in fundraiser
The Cedartown Bulldogs tennis program has many reasons to celebrate this week. They came up with a big win early on, then got a break due to the weather before having a fun evening on the courts for a fundraiser that will help the team in weeks to come cover expenses.
To start off the week, both the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs grabbed a region win in a trip to Chapel Hill on Feb. 27, with the girls taking a 4-1 win and the boys take a 3- 2 win. Campbell Parham, Katie Puckett and Suzanne Ellis all took their first, second and third seed matches respectively.
In doubles, Sydney Tanner and Guadalupe Escutia played into a third set that went into a ten-point tiebreaker for the win.
The boys saw their first seed Justin Runyan and second seed Brandon Bentley take wins, along with first seed doubles Will McClendon and Jayan Kent.
It marked the latest region set of matches for the Bulldogs programs, which was supposed to continue last Thursday at home but was called off last week due to rain.
Cedartown’s team will have to reschedule lat- er in the season, which hadn’t been announced by press time.
The teams enjoyed the unexpected break on Thursday, and then got back onto the courts for a special event on Friday.
The boys and girls programs combined with others from the community of all ages -- 70 people in total -- to keep up a marathon matches that stretched from 4 to 10 p.m. as a team fundraiser.
Combined with t he work that members of the team, and co-coaches Matt Foster and Matt Bentley have done already as well, the fundraising efforts by the team have brought in $ 3,000 for the program so far.
Foster said success for the programs to raise money is due to the efforts of those who are donating and helping spread the word in the community.
“All throughout the evening, each court was full of people from across the community -- kids and adults of all ages -- having an enjoyable time playing tennis with each other,” he said. “The team, Coach Bentley, and I cannot say ‘ thank you’ enough.”
The teams continue their region play this Thursday at Sandy Creek, then are set to head to Cartersville on March 15.
They’ll play Rockmart again on March 19 on a trip across the county, and wrap up their season on March 22 against Central Carroll based on the current schedule.