Colquitt girls beat Tift County in tennis
MOULTRIE — Lindsay Jacobs and Monique Murphy completed individual undefeated Region 1-AAAAA seasons on Tuesday when the Colquitt County girls tennis team defeated Tift County 4-1 in Tifton.
Colquitt County has just one more match — a non-region meeting at home against Tallahassee’s Lawton Chiles on Monday, April 10 — before the April 12 Region 1-AAAAA tournament in Tifton.
Tuesday’s victory raised the Lady Packers record to 14-3 for the season.
The Colquitt County girls’ only losses have been to Athens Academy and Bainbridge in Tifton Rotary Tennis Tournament and a 2-3 loss to Valdosta on the road on two weeks ago.
Both Jacobs, who plays No. 1 singles, and Murphy, who plays No. 3 singles, went 9-0 against Region opponents this season.
Jacobs has lost just one region match in the last two seasons and was never close to losing on Tuesday, winning 6-1, 6-0 over Tift County’s Staci Perlis. Murphy defeated Leah Lamb for the second time this season, winning 6-1, 6-3.
“To go through the region undefeated is quite an accomplishment,” Colquitt County girls coach Linda Berl said.
At No. 1 doubles, Gracie Qurnell and Anne Yearta defeated Rachel Samples and Kinsey Truman, 6-0, 6-1.
At No. 2 doubles, Jessica Harvin and Savanna Lamon won over Lindsay Ellis and Lauren Lindsey 6-0, 6-2.
Colquitt lost at No. 2 singles where Landi Clark fell to Rachel Cohen, 6-2, 3-6, 1-6.
In extra girls matches, Dresden Melton and Meghan Traylor won in doubles 8-2; Katy Weilbrenner and Laura Murphy won in doubles 8-6; Kayla Kelly and Laura Robinson won in doubles 8-3; and Carli Hester lost a singles match 1-8 to Kinsey Truman, one of the members of the Lady Devils No. 1 doubles team.
The Colquitt County boys fell 2-3 to Tift County for the second time this season and finish 0-9 in region matches. The loss ended a three-match winning streak.
The Packers will take a 4-13 record into the tournament.
The Packers lost the first set in all five matches, but rallied back to win two in three sets, but could not get a third.
At No. 1 singles, Zach Owen fell to Billy Griffin 3-6, 4-6, but the Packers won the other two singles matches.
At No. 2, Austin York rallied after losing the first set 4-6, to win the next two 7-5, 6-2 over Matt Hughes.
At No. 3, Shaun Soderstrom lost the first set 4-6 to Sam Drew, but won the next two sets 6-4, 7-5.
Packers coach Grant Hammack said Soderstrom was down 4-5 in the third set before winning.
“The kid holds a lot of promise,” Hammack said of Soderstrom. “He’s just got a winner’s attitude. He’s not the most polished player, but he just wins.”
At No. 1 doubles, Bradley Michie and Chris Harvin lost the first set to Charles Brown and Paton Willis 4-6, then came back to take the second 6-4. But they fell in the third set 5-7.
At No. 2 doubles, Zach Clifton and Barclay Mitchell fell to David Metzger and Caleb Tillman 3-6, 3-6.