CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- The collective experience of the Soddy-Daisy girls' tennis team proved to be enough Thursday afternoon. The same could be said for the Cleveland boys' team.
Both groups were victorious over Cookeville in the Region 3-AAA tournament at Lee University. Cleveland's Blue Raiders held off the Cavaliers 4-3, while the Lady Trojans had an easier time in their match, avoiding doubles entirely with a 4-1 win.
Both area teams will host sectional matches next week.
The Blue Raiders used their depth in singles and their strength in doubles to defeat the Cavs. Cade Thacker, Adam Klibisz and Vereen Patel had the singles victories, and Jake Gibson and Shivang Patel -- who won the District 5 individual doubles title -- had the clinching win.
Soddy-Daisy received wins in singles from Olivia Crawley, Chloe Mitchell, Katelynn Coyner and Adrianna Peckinpaugh, with Coyner's 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles clinching the team triumph.
Crawley and Mitchell won the district doubles title earlier this week, while Peckinpaugh was the runner-up in singles. In addition to the team playing for a state tournament berth, the trio will have an opportunity to advance to the individual tournament in Monday's region individual event on the Lee courts.
"We're all real excited about the performance today," Soddy-Daisy coach Danny Parker said. "The girls have been playing well, and we had a good individual tournament earlier this week.
"Most of the matches I don't have to tell the girls much: They know how they play and what they do well. I just hand them the balls and try to stay out of the way."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.