Lady Packers tennis reaches sweet 16

Published 3:00 pm Tuesday, April 18, 2023

MOULTRIE – After an upset finish in the 2023 1-7A region season, the Lady Packers varsity tennis team entered the state tournament as 4th seed.

However, after traveling for their round one match, the Lady Packers defeated Carrollton 3-2, who had finished 1st seed in the 2-7A region.

This will advance the Lady Packers to the Sweet 16.

“I am so proud of the way these girls came and played,” said head coach Amber Day. “They were determined to keep moving forward in the playoffs, and they rallied around one another and pulled themselves out of a 0-2 defeat to win three tough matches in a row. It was truly a team effort.”

The Lady Packers saw their first points in singles spot two and in the one doubles.

Ada Craft won the Lady Packers’ first point. Craft maintained the lead the entire time, ending both her sets 6-4.

Securing the second point for their team was the doubles team of Odessa Dixon and Candace Moses. They had to fight harder for their victory.

Winning the first set 6-4 and then being swept in the second at 0-6, Dixon and Moses went into a tiebreaker.

The Lady Packers kicked it into high gear and fought hard against Carrollton, getting the third set to 6-6 which meant there would be another set to break the tiebreaker.

Dixon and Moses won their tiebreaker for the tiebreaker 9-7.

In No. 1 singles was Eva Barnett, who lost 1-6, 0-6.

Carolyne Turner and Jayley Johnson played number two doubles, losing 3-6, 2-6.

With all other games completed, and tied at 2-2, it was up to Emily Lampman, who played No. 3 singles, to get that final third point for the Lady Packers.

Lampman also had to go into a tiebreaker to secure her victory after losing the first set, but she dominated the second and third.

With final set scores of 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 Lampman got the third and final point needed for the Lady Packers to claim their victory.

“Proud is an understatement,” said Day. “We knew this year would be an adjustment with so many girls playing varsity positions for the first time. We are losing two of our steady seniors, but we saw a glimpse of where we can go the next few years and the girls were excited about that.”

Wednesday’s match between Marietta (2nd seed in 3-7A) and Grayson (3rd seed in 4-7A) will determine who the Lady Packers will face next.

Round two of the state playoffs must be completed by April 26th.

The Packers varsity tennis team lost their first round of state playoffs 0-3 against Campbell and have been eliminated.