The Cartersville girls defeated Ringgold 3-0 in their matches. The Lady Purple Hurricanes are the No. 2 seed from the south and the Lady Tigers are the No. 3 seed from the north sub-region.
The girls play LaFayette today at 10 a.m. with the winner advancing to the region championship game at 2:30 in the afternoon.
The Cartersville boys, their sub-region's No. 1 seed, took the measure of LaFayette, the No. 4 seed, by the same 3-0 score Wednesday. The boys play at 11:30 a.m. today against Heritage with the winners squaring off for the region championship, also at 2:30 p.m.
"Both teams were ready to play [Wednesday], and they took care of the things they had to," head coach Julius Robberts said. "The boys seemed a little nervous to start with, but they quickly settled in. The girls didn't seem to have the jitters at all."
He noted the Lady Canes, who include Maggie Dowling and Adrienne Green, have appeared in the playoffs before and seemed comfortable in facing the challenge.
The girls advanced by winning the singles No. 1 match and both doubles matches. The other two singles matches were completed since the players were so close to finishing, Robberts said.
Counting toward the victory were Dowling's singles matches, Megan Patton and Logan Bolen's No. 1 doubles matches, and Sarah Vaughan and Mallory Walker's doubles matches, all of which were won by the same 6-0 scores.
Green won her singles matches 6-1, 6-0, and Maddie McGinnis won 6-1, 6-1.
Winning for the boys in singles play were Trevor Gotkowski, 6-0, 6-0; Mitchell Scott, 6-0, 6-0; Brock Hufstetler, 7-5, 6-0.
The doubles matches were suspended once the Canes garnered three wins, giving them the match.
Robberts said it was good to get the win. "I was very proud of both teams and look forward to the competition Thursday (today). It's going to be a long, challenging day for our teams and probably the coaches, too."
The Lady Canes' opponents today are the Lady Ramblers, who are the No. 1 seed from their sub-region, finishing with a perfect 5-0 record there during the regular season. The Lady Canes went 4-1 in their sub-region.
The Cartersville boys will be playing Heritage, the No. 2 seed from their sub-region. They finished with a 4-1 record. Cartersville was 5-0 in its sub-region.