GIRLS’ TEAMS TO WATCHBaylor: The Lady Red Raiders won the Division II-AA state championship last season. They lost individual singles champion Sanya Brkovic but gained transfer Mary Walker Mixon from St. Pius X in Atlanta.GPS: The Bruisers finished second in the Division II-AA state tournament a season ago. They lost two of their top six but return a lot of depth.Notre Dame: The Lady Irish could make a Class A/AA run after returning virtually all of their lineup, including Callie Voges and Katie Joyce.BOYS’ TEAMS TO WATCHBaylor: After two consecutive Division II-AA state runner-up finishes, the Red Raiders will be looking to take the next step to a championship, led by Anderson Scarpa.Dalton: The Catamounts lost only one of their top three singles players from a Georgia Class AAA second-round playoff team; they return top player Hunter Carson.McCallie: The Blue Tornado lost two members from a Division II-AA state semifinalist but return a lot of depth, led by individual singles runner-up Bobby Brouner.GIRLS’ PLAYERS TO WATCHSamantha Caswell, Baylor: Caswell was a semifinalist in the Division II-AA state singles tournament last season and will be among the favorites to win it all this year.Taylor Johnson, East Hamilton: Johnson was selected as a Best of Preps player after finishing 13-2 last season for the Lady Hurricanes.Sadie Shackelford, St. Andrew’s-Sewanee: Shackelford, who’s headed to MiddleburyCollege, hopes to earn her third Division II-A state singles title.BOYS’ PLAYERS TO WATCHBobby Brouner, McCallie: Brouner was the Division II-AA state runner-up last season.Jackson Lenoir, Arts & Sciences: Lenoir finished second in the Class A/AA state tournament a year ago.Anderson Scarpa, Baylor: Scarpa was a Division II-AA state quarterfinalist in 2011.
John Mitchell and Autumn Baker know all too well the challenges and perceptions for tennis players at area public schools. For the most part, anybody not at a private school is looked at as an inferior player.
Their mission is to try and change that — not just for them, but for their school, Central.
Mitchell and Baker both were District 6-A/AA singles runners-up a year ago, and Mitchell became a region finalist.
“I’m disappointed that we don’t get the recognition that other schools get,” he said. “People at our school don’t even know that we have a tennis team. We want to get the program recognized, so now, when I play in summer tournaments, I wear my Central tennis gear.”