By Score Atlanta
The Walton boys won Region 5-AAAAAA this past weekend despite having three of their top seven players out of town. Alex McNeel stepped in to win his first singles match of the year and the Raiders took both doubles lines to sweep Etowah 3-0. Crews Enochs and Trevor Croyder prevailed in the top doubles slot; Raymond Zhang and Bailey Honig got the job done at No. 2. In the girls match, Walton edged Etowah 3-2 on the strength of all three singles players. Bella Kuse and Johanna Keeline dominated without losing a single game before Suzanne Zenoni survived the deciding match 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 at No. 1 singles.
Brookwood’s boys and girls swept the Region 8-AAAAAA titles last week. The boys scraped past Parkview 3-2 in their final, getting wins from Zach Jennings, Bryan Pridgeon and Matt Blakely. Things never got quite as tricky for the Brookwood girls, who had no trouble against Parkview in part thanks to victories by Clarissa Jolley and Avery Watson. Like the Broncos and Panthers, each one of Grayson’s teams qualified for the state tournament (both the boys and girls placed third). Shiloh rounds out the boys’ Region 8 representatives in state, whereas Dacula is the No. 4 seed on the girls’ side.
In Region 7-AAAAAA, North Gwinnett’s girls lifted the championship trophy after finishing runner-up in both 2013 and 2014. Emma Flemming and Meghan Poole prevailed in singles for the Bulldogs, who beat Peachtree Ridge 3-1 in last week’s final. The doubles team of Emma Etelalahti and Mimi Zhang provided the clinching point. Norcross got the best of Mill Creek in the third-place match and both schools will join North Gwinnett and Peachtree Ridge in the state bracket.
The Bremen girls capped off a third consecutive season going undefeated in Region 5-AA. In fact, the Blue Devils have now gone three straight years without dropping a single set in region play. They took care of Temple in the semifinals before cruising past Bowdon in the title match. Charli Allen, Lucy Hughes Parrish and Emily Cheshier have been leading the way for Bremen in singles; Alexis Nappi and Elizabeth Knott anchor the No. 1 doubles pairing ahead of Rachel Forrister and Hannah Love.
Elsewhere, Pace Academy’s boys beat Lovett to triumph in Region 6-AA. In Region 4-AA, Blessed Trinity and Westminster split titles after a pair of head-to-head finals. The Blessed Trinity girls beat Westminster, but the Wildcat boys defeated the Titans.
