Soddy Daisy Girls Region 3 AAA Champions
Cleveland Boys Region 3 AAA Champions
Shelby Noe of Soddy Daisy returns a shot in Wednesday;s Region 3 AAA match with Cookeville
photo by MA Locke
Soddy Daisy's Olivia Crawley (foreground) prepares to hit a backhand in warm-ups Wednesday in the Region 3 AAA match with Cookeville
photo by MA Locke
Cleveland boys’ and Soddy Daisy girls’ tennis teams claimed Region 3 AAA titles Wednesday against Cookeville at the Hixson Racquet Club and the coaches have more in common than yesterday’s championship plaques.
Both coaches – Eric Stiles at Cleveland and Rob Wood at Soddy Daisy – are in their second seasons as head coaches, are former middle school coaches at those schools, each have four seniors playing in their fourth year on the varsity and now have won district and region titles.
A step away from qualifying for Spring Fling XIV state tournament, the two programs face mid-state teams next week in state quarterfinal (sectional) matches.
Cleveland 4, Cookeville 0 … The Blue Raiders stayed perfect on the season and improved to 13-0.
“We have had a real good season and in total sets played we are 105 – 3 which I feel is quite impressive,” said coach Stiles.
Swetman and Klibisz are both 13-0 in singles and Patel and Hughes are undefeated in doubles and district champs.
Singles
Veeren Patel (Cleve) defeated Marlon Ngo, 6-3, 6-4
Jack Hughes (Cleve) defeated Alek Kriskovich 6-2, 7-6, (8)
Allen Swetman (Cleve) defeated Chris Sheets 6-1, 6-0
Adam Klibisz (Cleve) defeated Alex Groundland 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
Next Match- State Quarterfinals – Cleveland hosts the Siegel-Lincoln Co. winner May 19
Soddy Daisy 4, Cookeville 1 … In a 3 hour, 40 minute match, Taylor Stutts clinched the team win for the Trojans (16-1) with a 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-1 victory at No. 4 singles. The Trojans' No.1 singles player Olivia Crawley won 6-0, 6-0 and now has 68 career singles wins in four years.
Next Match - State Quarterfinals – Soddy Daisy hosts the Siegel-Shelbyville winner May 18.
Singles
Olivia Crawley (SD) def. Sara Gaw, 6-0, 6-0
Katie Ward (Cooke) def. Shelby Noe, 6-4, 6-2
Bailey Coyner (SD) def. Caroline MCarter, -1, 36, 6-3
Taylor Stults (SD) def. Hudson Taylor, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-1
Kaitlynn Hollands (SD) def. Nataliie Crooks, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net