The boys and girls teams each won 4-0 in Dalton onWednesday and will play this morning in regional semifinal matches, with the winners advancing to the regional championship matches, which are scheduled this afternoon.
Melissa Moore, in her first year as head coach at Cartersville, credited the work of the Purple Hurricanes and Lady Purple Hurricanes with earning a return to the state playoffs for both.
“Coach [Stephanie] Earick and I are ecstatic and extremely proud of the hard work the team has put in this season,” Moore said Wednesday. “We are looking forward to a rematch to defeat Allatoona in the finals. That is our goal.”
Moore said both teams represented Cartersville well with their play.
“We had some great match play today,” she said. “All our players were at the top of their game. Our serves were very accurate and our ground strokes were consistent.
“Our doubles play was strong at the net. Our play was just strong across the board. I want this team to show up [today]. They were mentally focused.”
The Cartersville boys defeated Southeast Whitfield, 4-0, with one match called because of rain after the Purple Hurricanes had collected enough victories to advance.
In line 1 singles play, junior Trevor Gotkowski defeated Ben Lopez , 6-0, 6-0; while in line 2 singles play senior Mitchell Scott topped Darshan Patel, 6-1, 6-1, and in line 3 singles play, Tyler Hill overcame Gavin Hill, 6-0, 6-4.
At the line 1 doubles position, seniors Will Garner and Jordan Eckert defeated Christian Hernandez and Edgar Lopez.
At the line 2 doubles position, the match involving Jonathon McMurdo and Nathan Slocum was called with the teams tied.
Lady Canes 4, Heritage 0
The Cartersville girls defeated Heritage, 4-0, to advance to this morning’s matchup.
In line 1 singles play, senior Adrienne Green defeated Abbi Henry, 6-0, 6-0, while in singles line 2 play freshman Darien DeFrench overwhelmed Emily Hulsey, 6-1, 6-2. At singles line 3, Maddy McGinnis topped Maddi Hobbs 6-1, 6-1.
In doubles line 1 play, Ali Norwood and Mallory Walker defeated Gracie Grant and Savanah Nichols, 6-1, 6-0.
The match was called in line 2 doubles with sisters Annabeth Fox and Charleston Fox leading Natasha Lukashenko and Kaitlin Hall, 6-1, 4-2.
The Cartersville boys play Heritage at 10 a.m. today while the girls play LaFayette at the same time. The winners advance to the finals at 2:30 p.m.
The victory improved the Lady Canes to 9-2 overall, 4-1 in Region 7-AAA, while the Canes’ record rose to 6-5, 4-1 in the region.