Grace Academy’s Nathan Schley and Boyd-Buchanan’s Tarah Garner won District 5-A/AA singles tennis championships Friday at Lee University.
Collegedale Academy won the team boys’ title with nine points, and the Arts & Sciences girls tied Collegedale’s Lady Eagles with seven points each, but the Lady Patriots came out ahead in the tiebreaker to win their second straight district championship.
“It was much more challenging this year, and we had a tougher road here,” CSAS coach Jerry Pate said. “But our girls came through when we needed them to.”
The Eagles and Lady Patriots will play 6-A/AA champion Chattanooga Christian for Region 3 championships next week.
“This is the deepest team we’ve had a in a long time, and we look forward to playing CCS,” Collegedale coach Joe Chung said. “The boys have been focused all season.”
Individual district finalists advance to the Region 3 tournament May 11-12 at CCS.
Garner, a junior, won her fourth district singles title in a row by beating CSAS’s Ahmee Kelly, 6-1, 6-0. Schley, a freshman, earned the boys’ singles championship with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Boyd-Buchanan’s Jacob LeQuire.
Schley played doubles in the district tournament last year as an eighth-grader.
“He’s more sure of himself,” Grace coach Barbie Graham said. “He’s making more aggressive shots and getting them in, and he’s better at the net. We’re very proud of him.”
Collegedale’s Will Underwood and Phillip Patton won the boys’ doubles championship, beating CSAS’s Daniel Moates and Ian Derthick, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1. CSAS’s Albany Kelly and Kayla Kelly won the girls’ doubles championship over Grace’s Shelby Turner and Lindsey Remme, 6-1, 6-0.
n District 5-AAA: Walker Valley won the singles, girls’ doubles and team titles, but second-seeded Billy Whisman and Kelly Lane from host Rhea County earned the boys’ doubles championship by edging top-seeded Michael Hewgley and Neal Baldwin of McMinn County 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Walker Valley’s second-seeded John Gibson beat top-seeded teammate Nathan Kiser 6-1, 6-3 in the boys’ singles final, and the Lady Mustangs’ Hannah Ervin took the girls’ title by downing Cleveland’s Kelsey Cantrell 6-4, 7-5. Walker Valley’s top-seeded Megan and Amanda Smith defeated teammates Amanda Haltom and Forest Wilson 6-2, 6-1 in the girls’ final.
Walker Valley edged regular-season champion Cleveland 11 points to nine for the girls’ tournament team title. The two will square off Tuesday for the official district championship. The Mustangs will face McMinn on Wednesday to decide the boys’ region representative.
