Tucker’s Autumn Clemons is on the move during her No. 1 singles win against Evans. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Tucker Lady Tigers eased to a 3-0 victory over Evans to reach the Class 6A Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season in matches played at Hudlow Tennis Center on Wednesday.
Tucker’s Summer Clemons (13-1) put the Lady Tigers on the board with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 3 singles against Evans’ Haley Fullen. She ran off 12 consecutive game wins after being tied 2-2 in the opening set.
Her older sister, Autumn (9-1) matcher Summer with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Katy Earwood at No. 1 singles to make it 2-0. The No. 2 doubles team of Trinyty Turner and Jade Wurapa finished a 2 sets to none win with a 6-2 second set victory to close out the match against Evans’ Nancy Kye and Jasmine Lee.
Tucker (17-1) is set to play host next week to Region 2-6A No. 2 seed Richmond Hill which defeated Houston County 3-0 in first round play. The match date, time and site have yet to be set.
The Tigers (15-3) fought back from a 2-1 deficit, but a third set tiebreaker at No. 2 singles went to Evans eliminating Tucker 3-2.
Tucker’s Usman Jamal makes a return during his tough three-set match against Evans. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Evans won the two doubles’ points in straight sets to offset Tucker’s Shawn Lunde’s 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 1 singles over Erik Fulton to make it a 2-1 advantage.
Tucker’s Malik Shakir battled Evans’ Travis Knox at No. 3 singles coming out with a 6-4, 6-4 win in a hotly contested two sets to pull the Tigers even at 2-2.
Usman Jamal worked hard at No. 2 singles despite a hurting arm to rally from a first set loss to tie his match at one set apiece with a 6-4 win in the second set against Evans’ Matthew Kozlowski. Jamal took a 5-4 lead in the third set and was serving for the win up 6-5 before Kozlowski broke serve to knot the set at 6-6.
Jamal kept working and was up 5-3 in the tiebreaker before Kozlowski show his resilience again to rally for four straight points and 7-5 win to take the deciding set for Evans.
Class 5A
The Region 5-5A boys’ champion Chamblee Bulldogs (14-4) defeated North Springs 4-1 on Wednesday to advance to the Class 5A Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season.
The Bulldogs have reached the state playoffs 11 consecutive years and are now 12-13 in state tournament play.
Sam Lehmann (8-2) won a thrilling three set match at No. 3 singles to aid the cause after dropping the first set 6-7 he rallied for a 7-6 win in the second set and battled his way to a 13-11 win in the tiebreaker. Allen Howell (9-4) won by a 7-6, 6-2 score at No. 1 singles.
The Bulldogs swept the doubles points with Dixon Hall and Carter Difonzo winning 6-4, 6-4 at No. 1 and Jake Busch and Eshaan Agrawal taking a 6-3, 6-0 victory at No. 2.
The Bulldogs host Region 7 No. 2 seed Woodland-Bartow on Thursday (April 26) at 4:00 pm. Woodland defeated Clarke Central 5-0 in first round play.
In other Class 5A state tournament action, the Clarkston Angoras fell to Riverwood 5-0 in boys’ first round action and the Columbia Lady Eagles dropped a 3-0 decision to Riverwood.
The Southwest DeKalb Panthers (12-9) fell to Decatur 4-1 at Dottie Bridges on Thursday in Class 5A boys’ play.
Class 6A
Lakeside took both its tennis teams to Grayson on Wednesday and brought home two first round victories with identical 5-0 wins by both the boys and girls.
Paul Roberts (15-1, No. 1 singles), Niko Reynolds (14-2, No. 2 singles) and Ethen Kene (4-0, No. 3 singles) all won their singles matches in straight sets 2-0 over their Grayson opponents. The No. 1 doubles team of Julien Marchais and Jeffrey Vaudran were pushed to three sets in a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win while the No. 2 doubles tandem of Jack Leff and Thomas Bresee won 6-1, 6-2.
Alicia Blount (6-9, No. 1 singles), Grace Rickman (9-6, No. 2 singles) and Emily Zhou (9-1, No. 3 singles) all won easily in straight sets to sweep the singles for Lakeside in girls’ play. Tedy Dasher and Noelle Mauldin (7-2, No. 1 doubles) won 6-1, 6-4 and the No. 2 doubles pair of Clara McAuley and Alice Earwood (3-4) had an exciting 7-6, 7-6 double tiebreaker win.
Class 4A
Druid Hills split in Class 4A tennis action at Burke County on Friday.
The Lady Red Devils defeated the home team 3-0 to advance to the Class 4A Sweet 16. Druid Hills travels to Columbus on
DCSD STATE TENNIS RESULTS
FIRST ROUND
Wednesday, April 18
CLASS 7A
Boys
Lakeside (9-6-1) 5, Grayson 0
Girls
Lakeside (9-5) 5, Grayson 0
Class 6A
Boys
Evans 3, Tucker (15-3) 2
Girls
Tucker (17-1) 3, Evans 0
Class 5A
Boys
Chamblee (14-4) 4, North Springs 1
Riverwood 5, Clarkston 0
Girls
Riverwood 3, Columbia (6-4-1) 0
Thursday, April 19
Class 5A
Boys
Decatur 4, SW DeKalb (12-9) 1
Friday, April 20
Class 4A
Boys
Burke Co. 3, Druid Hills 1
Girls
Druid Hills 3, Burke Co. 0
DCSD STATE TENNIS SCHEDULE
SECOND ROUND
Tuesday, April 24
DeKalb Tennis Center
Class 5A Girls
Carrollton vs. Chamblee (18-0), 4:00 pm
Class 5A Boys
Woodland-Bartow vs. Chamblee (14-4), 4:00 pm
Class 6A Girls
Richmond Hill at Tucker, Hudlow Tennis Center, 5:00 pm
Class 7A Girls
Lakeside (9-5) at North Gwinnett, 4:30 pm
Wednesday, April 25
Class 6A Boys
Dunwoody (12-7) at Harrison, 1:30 pm
Class 7A Boys
Lakeside (9-6-1) at South Forsyth, 4:30 pm
Class 4A Girls
Druid Hills at Columbia, 3:00 pm