CHS boys earn spot in Elite 8, girls fall in 2nd round

Cedartown tennis split their second-round GHSA State Playoff matches. The Bulldogs continued their postseason run with a huge triumph at Islands, but the Lady Bulldogs had their season come to an end in heartbreaking fashion at Bainbridge.

The boys team earned a 3-2 win at Islands High School in Savannah on Monday.

No. 1 Singles Barclay Barnes and No. 2 Singles Kamron Palacios won their matches in two sets. No. 2 Singles Braden Shelton fell 6-2, 6-0, before No. 1 Doubles Sam Arnold and

Spencer Hicks lost in three sets.

In the deciding match, No. 2 Doubles Efrain Iglesias and Micah Puckett downed the Sharks 6-2, 6-7, 6-1 in three sets to pick up the win and help CHS advance to the Class 4A state quarterfinals.

Unfortunately, the Lady Bulldogs’ fantastic season ended last Monday in Southwest Georgia. Coach Matt Foster’s squad came up just short of upsetting one of the top teams in the state, Bainbridge, in the Sweet 16 as the Lady Bearcats knocked off Cedartown 3-2 down in Decatur County.

Three of the five matches went to a tiebreaker set.

No. 3 Singles Jimena Escutia and No. 1 Doubles Tori Blankenship and Edy Lee were the only Lady Bulldogs to pick up victories in their matches, winning in two and three sets respectively.

No. 1 Singles Reagan Clarke fell 7-6, 4-6, 3-6, before No. 2 Singles Alyssa Parham lost in two sets. In what wound up being the deciding match, Bainbridge’s No. 2 Doubles team downed Arianna Klemke and Annalee Walters of Cedartown 5-7, 6-4, 3-6.

Despite the second-round defeat, Cedartown’s girls squad put together a strong 2022 campaign. The Lady Bulldogs finished as the runners up in a brutal Region 7-4A and advanced all the way to the Sweet 16, where they came within an ace of moving to the Elite 8.

The boys team, coached by Matt Bentley, will try to keep their miracle run going in the next round. The four-seed out of Region 7-4A has now beaten a one-seed and a two-seed in Hampton and Islands.

Cedartown will travel to the Chattahoochee Valley in the third round of the state tournament for a meeting with the oneseed out of Region 2-4A, Columbus. The Blue Devils swept Westside-Macon in the first round before taking down Madison County 5-0 last week. Those matches in Muscogee County were scheduled to be played Monday, May 2.