The Chamblee tennis teams traveled to Woodward Academy for a 10 am Class 5A state tennis playoff doubleheader and split the matches with the home team.

The Lady Bulldogs pulled out a 3-1 win over Woodward in the girls match to advance to the Class 5A Elite 8 next week against the winner of Midtown and Union Grove. Chamblee would go to Midtown or host Union Grove.

Sophia Cheng put the Lady Bulldogs up a point with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles to get the ball rolling for Chamblee on the Woodward courts.

The No. 2 doubles team of Kennedy Talbert and Genesis Pickens battled to a first set win of 7-5 and roared to a 6-2 second set win to push Chamblee within one point of advancing to the third round.

The other three matches went into the third set with Woodward taking the No. 1 doubles in a thrilling 12-game third set victory of 7-5 by Josette Chun and Sophia Egoavil over Chamblee’s Grace Seel and Ananya Jeter to pick up a point for Woodward. Chamblee’s duo won the first set 6-1 before falling 4-6 in the second as Woodward forced the third set.

Chamblee’s No. 2 singles player Allison Lvovich dropped her first set 4-6 to Woodward’s Shanthi Bernard as Woodward looked to knot the match. Lvovich turned the match around winning both the second and third set by a score of 6-1 to put Chamblee up 3-1 and into the third round of the state playoffs.

The No. 1 singles match between Chamblee’s Isabelle Coursey and Woodward’s Anastasiya Speyer was in the third set when the match was called. Speyer opened with a 6-4 win, but Coursey bounced back to win the second set 6-2. The pair was knotted at 3-3 as the match ended.

BOYS: Woodward 4, Chamblee 1
Woodward Academy was pushed to the limit by the Bulldogs with three three-set matches and another match having a set go to a tiebreaker despite the 4-1 win by the home team.

Andrew Pietkiewicz ended his career with a big comeback at No. 1 singles after dropping the opening set 4-6 to Woodward’s Myan Ponugoti. Pietkiewicz pulled things together in the final two sets with wins of 6-3 and 6-2 to pick up the Bulldogs lone point of the match.

The No. 2 and No. 3 singles matches also went three sets only to have Woodward win both. Chamblee’s Bryce Starks fought back from a first set 3-6 defeat at No. 2 to force a third set with a big 7-5 win in the second. Woodward’s Jackson Byars closed out the set however with a 6-0 third set victory.

Rudy Bhukhanwala split sets at No. 3 singles falling 1-6 before taking a 6-4 win to force another third set match. Woodward’s Derek Zhang pulled out a 6-3 win in the third set to take the match.

William Hackney and Rishav Rangathan battled into a tiebreaker in the opening set of their No. 2 doubles match with Akash Gupta and Eshan Bhimani. The teams were tied at 6-6 in the set and 6-6 in the tiebreaker when the Woodward team broke through to win two points and the tiebreaker 8-6 to take the first set. Woodward clinch the match with a 6-2 second set win.

Kai Henderson and Neathan Aresh fell 1-6, 1-6 to Woodward’s Ajay Iyer and Namit Miglani at No. 1 doubles.

DCSD TENNIS STATE PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Friday, April 22
CLASS 5A GIRLS SECOND ROUND
Chamblee (14-6-1) 3, Woodward Academy 1
CLASS 5A BOYS SECOND ROUND
Woodward Academy 4, Chamblee (12-9) 1

Monday, April 25
CLASS 6A GIRLS SECOND ROUND
Lakeside (10-6) at Pope, 4:30 pm

CLASS 7A GIRLS SECOND ROUND
Camden County at Dunwoody (14-4), 12:00 pm

Wednesday, April 27
CLASS 7A BOYS SECOND ROUND
North Paulding at Dunwoody (12-3), 2:00 pm

MATCHES TO BE DETERMINED
CLASS 6A BOYS THIRD ROUND
Lakeside (15-2) vs. Cambridge/Houston Co. winner, TBA

CLASS 5A GIRLS THIRD ROUND
Chamblee (14-6-1) vs. Midtown/Union Grove winner, TBA