REGION TENNIS: West Laurens extends streak of titles; Trinity’s Cranford 6-AA singles champ

There are few streaks in area high school sports with the longevity to rival the decade and a half-plus run of region championships for West Laurens tennis teams. 

The Raiders reeled off a couple more Thursday as they conquered the 4-AAA tournament competition at Augusta’s Newman Tennis Center to claim region title No. 17 in a row for their girls, and the boys’ 17th in 19 seasons. 

The girls (15-8, 10-0 region) won by 4-0 scores in both their semifinal against Harlem, and championship match vs. Aquinas, dropping just one set out of the 18 they completed on the day. 

Brooke Collins, Elynn Alligood and Augusta Rodgers, and the doubles team of Neeva Dave and Carolyn Smith, swept sets for the semifinal decision, and Anna O’Neal and Hannah Wells – who were still in progress toward another straight-set win when time was called in the semis – joined Alligood, Rodgers and Dave/Smith in securing one of the four victories in the finale. 

The West Laurens boys finished four of their five matches vs. Harlem in the semis, with Landon Gentry, Garrison Lastinger and doubles teams of Aiden/Bryce Payne and Cam Spires/Tripp NeSmith all winning in straight sets. 

Kenneth Reyes and Charlie Barfield joined Gentry in the singles lineup for the finals against the Fightin’ Irish, who won 16 games to make all three matches much tougher to put away. But the Raiders (15-8, 10-0 region) still won all six sets there, and swept in more one-sided fashion on the doubles courts with teams of Aiden Payne/Cullen Christian and Matthew Gibbs/Jax Crawford rounding out the 5-0 win. 

Both Raider teams will be top-8 seeds, and at home for the first two rounds, in the state playoffs. 

Dublin, East Laurens and Trinity tennis teams traveled to compete in their region events on Tuesday.

Multiple Crusaders made the medal podium at the GIAA’s 6-AA tournament (under an individual rather than team-based format), with Chap Cranford capturing gold in boys singles as he prevailed over teammate Hein Schaaf in two competitive sets of the finals, 6-3 and 6-4. 

The duo of Deakon Dooley and Knox Hawkins also finished runner-up in boys doubles, while the team of Ansley Kilpatrick and Austyn Miller finished third in girls doubles. 

The GIAA individual state tournament will take place April 20-21. Its team championships will follow on April 28-29, both events being held in Macon.  

Both Eastside teams and Dublin’s boys reached the semifinals of the region 2-High A tournament to clinch automatic spots in the state playoffs. 

The two would go head-to-head at two different points in the day, the girls teams in the opening round, where a 4-1 victory by the Lady Falcons prevented the Dublin girls (5-10 overall) from advancing. Both boys squads would collide later in the consolation match, where East Laurens was a 3-0 winner to take third. 

The Irish boys (9-8 overall) picked up a 4-1 opening win over Washington County before being knocked from the winners’ half of the draw in a 3-0 loss to Bleckley County. 

Third singles player Owen Williams kept his season-long unbeaten streak in region matches going as the Falcon boys opened with a win, then loss leading into the third-place match. The East girls reached the same point, but fell in their match for third. 

Each of the three qualifiers above now await word on their playoff seeding, while the Lady Irish – whose only shot will be an at-large selection – await word of their fate when brackets are finalized this weekend. 

First-round state playoff matches will be played next week.