A year ago the Buford tennis team was building toward a big finish when the pandemic knocked out all the spring sports. But the Wolves have come back with a different set of players and again have big goals in mind.
Buford this week won the Region 8-6A boys and girls tennis titles. It was the fourth straight title for the boys and the third straight championship for the girls and sends both teams into the state playoffs as No. 1 seeds. Both teams are 12-4.
The first round of the state playoffs must be completed by April 20. The finals will be May 8 at Berry College in Rome.
“We had a lot of experience on the girls side and the boys are young, but we’ve got a lot of talent on both sides,” said Buford coach Sean Gilbert, in his sixth season at the helm. “We moved up to 6A and we were in a new region and we didn’t know how it was going to shake out, but we knew we were probably going to make the playoffs.”
The Buford girls are in a youth movement in singles. Freshman Taylor Aycock came in and earned the role as No. 1 singles player, with senior Callie Perkins, a three-year starter known for her consistency, holding the No. 2 spot. Freshman Berkley Clark came back from an early season injury and is strong at No. 3. The doubles teams are outstanding. Kennedy Deloach and Kylie McCammon play No. 1 and Taylor Ryczeck and Sophie Brewer are No. 2.
The boys do not have a senior in the starting lineup. Junior Dean Kingsley won the No. 1 spot and has played against some of the state’s top names. Sophomore James Trout earned the No. 2 position and has gone 16-0. Sophomore Matthew Maurer, a solid tournament player, is at No. 3 singles. The No. 1 doubles team is Layton Grothe and Nic Keller and the No. 2 team is Grayson Gilbert and Brent Sherman.
“I’m so pleased with their attitude,” Gilbert said “After the disappointment of last year, we were hoping to get back to state. We would really like to get to the next level.”
Lambert sweeps to Region 6-7A titles
The Lambert boys and girls swept the Region 6-7A tournament, with the girls beating West Forsyth and the boys defeating South Forsyth.
The girls got wins from Brooke Despriet at No. 1 and Emily Baek at No. 2, as well as victories from the No. 1 doubles team of Katie Lewis and Nina Zhao, and the No. 2 team of Riley Abellana and Sydney Winters.
The boys got wins from Aidan Atwood at No. 2, the No. 1 doubles team of Skyler Feng and Matthew Lim and the No. 2 team f Aneesh Seemakurthy and Rithvik Suram. No. 1 singles player Rishil Kondapaneni’s match was tied when Lambert clinched the match.
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