Tennis season is winding down as the Region Tournaments are going on this week. The Etowah boys and girls tennis teams are the defending Region 5-AAAAA champions and they look to do that on Wednesday when the finals take place at Marietta High School, the same place where they won the region championship last year. If they are able to do that, it would mean back-to-back titles for the girls and four consecutive titles for the boys. But both teams have a bigger goal that they set for themselves before the season, and that is winning the state title. If both Eagles teams can continue to play like they have all season, that goal should be well within reach.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Both teams’ paths to a dominating regular season were very different. The girls record at press time was 13-2, with both of their losses coming against Marist in February. That record is quite an accomplishment considering the team lost five seniors from last season.
“The freshmen and the one sophomore that I picked up are really, really good players,” girls head coach Billie Morgan said. Most of my wins came from the underclassmen that I had, not so much the seniors that I had. So I knew when I picked up these really good players, I had a really good team.”
The two freshmen, Nicole LaDuca and Alyssa Siebold, have been keys to their success this year. And they are also going to be factors when the state tournament begins and the girls that are back from last year want to go further than last year when they lost to South Forsyth in the first round.
“The girls I have returning, their goal is to get deep into the state playoffs,” Morgan said. “It still haunts them. They still talk about it, they know what happened, they know what they did [last season].”
BOYS UNDEFEATED
Going into the region tournament, the boys team was undefeated and was ranked No. 1 in the state in the GACA Coaches Poll, having cruised past every opponent this year. Last year they won the region title in convincing fashion and made it all the way to the finals of the state tournament, losing to Northview. This year they look hungry to win that title, winning the Wheeler Wildcat Tournament at the beginning of the season. Not only are the Eagles boys undefeated in matches on the season, they have only lost two games.
So which teams stand in their way? For the girls, a dominant Walton program would be a tough opponent in the postseason. For the boys, defending champion Northview is a team that is familiar with this Eagles team. No matter who they face, however, the Eagles will be the teams to watch in the Class 5A state tournament.
Jones can be reached at bjones@scoreatl.com.
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