Gilmer wins match to kick off state tournament
Gilmer High Bobcat tennis has advanced to the second round.
The No. 2 seeded GHS Bobcats hosted the No. 3 seeded Rockmart Yellow Jackets to begin the state tennis tournament last Friday. Gilmer secured a win on the singles court and two more on the doubles side to earn a 3-1 victory.
“It was a very exciting match,” GHS head coach Donna Parks said. “Brett started off winning and never looked back. He was very much on his game Friday. Several of the other matches were back and forth, one minute we’d be down a couple sets, the next minute they’d be right back in the lead. The boys really wanted this win, we could tell. They all played very hard.”
The Bobcats got rolling on the top singles court where Brett Becker stormed to a 6-1, 6-0 victory. The No. 1 doubles tandem of Isaac Bradshaw and Law Lykins won their opening set 6-4 and took the second as well 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker).
Gilmer’s team win was sealed on the No. 2 doubles court where Gavin Berger and Ethan Cole won the first and second sets by respective scores of 6-4 and 6-3 with a 6-0 loss in between.
The Yellow Jackets notched a win over No. 2 single Kaden Reece 6-7 (7-3 TB), 6-3. Bryson Sisson was winning 5-4 in the first set of his match when it was called because Gilmer had secured the team win.
“Ethan probably played his best game ever, and he was all over the court during his doubles match as Rockmart’s strategy seemed to be to hit it away from the net person (Gavin) every time so Ethan was constantly on the move,” Parks said.
“Coach (Jordan) Hice and I are very proud of how they all played Friday night. There was determination, and these boys committed to this accomplishment and we commend them for it.”
GHS will travel to Atlanta Wednesday to face Westminster in the second round at 4:30 p.m. The Lady Cats started their state tournament in LaFayette at press deadline.