FLOWERY BRANCH — Losing a varsity starter for a state playoff match is often a tricky proposition.
For the Flowery Branch boys tennis team on Tuesday it was simply a matter of, "next man up."
With normal No. 2 doubles starter Brady McVey missing due to illness, Caden Caldwell stepped into the breach and helped secure a 6-1, 6-0 victory for his team, earning the first of three quick victories for the Falcons as they cruised past Rome 3-0 in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament at the Hog Mountain Sports Complex.
"That was great to see," Flowery Branch boys coach Stacey Smallwood said. "Our doubles teams are playing well right now. They had been hit or miss with consistency at times this season, so to see someone step in play well in the state playoffs was impressive."
Caldwell and Gunnar Hetzel made short work of their opponents, the first Falcons to complete their match. And with the way the Branch's singles players are performing at the moment, it was only a matter of time before several teammates followed.
Nathan Holley and Jack Thomas did just that at Nos. 2 and 3 singles, respectively, clinching the team victory in straight sets -- Holley prevailing 6-0, 6-0 and Thomas taking a 6-1, 6-0 win. Drayton Matus was also leading in the No. 1 singles match before Thomas' clinching point, as was the No. 1 doubles team of Brody Millwood and John Hollis.
"Our singles players have been good all season, and they're playing really good right now," said Smallwood, whose No. 2-seeded Falcons bounced back from a defeat to Buford in the 8-5A tournament in style. "It was good for them to come off a region loss like that and feel like they hadn't played to the best of their abilities and then bounce back like that."
Flowery Branch moves on to face the winner of the Grady vs. Arabia Mountain match (time to be determined), and after falling in the first round of last year's state tournament, the Branch progresses with optimism.
"This year's singles line is stronger and deeper than last year, and I think they can really do some big things," Smallwood said. "Now I have to go home and do some homework on whoever we're going to play next.
FLOWERY BRANCH GIRLS 4,
ROME 0
The Lady Falcons have lost just one match this season, and they showed their dominance again on Tuesday at the Hog Mountain Sports Complex, dispatching Rome in less than an hour in the opening round of the Class 5A playoffs.
"We're playing with a lot of confidence right now; I feel good about this team," said Flowery Branch girls tennis coach Ginger Jackson, whose team has reached the Class 5A quarterfinals in two of the last three seasons. "We played as well as we have as a whole team to win the region, and it was good to see us keep playing well."
The Branch dropped just three games over four-plus matches.
Annabelle Thomas' match at No. 1 singles was not completed when the Lady Falcons completed the win -- though she was leading 6-1, 2-1. Olivia Correa and Olivia Nance stormed to 6-0, 6-0 wins at Nos. 2 and 3 singles, respectively.
Meanwhile, the No. 1 doubles team of Brenna Martin/Alyssa McSpadden won 6-1, 6-0, and the No. 2 team of Alicia Quast/Kendalle Quast prevailed 6-0, 6-0.
The Lady Falcons will face the winner of North Springs and Southwest DeKalb.
"This team has three freshmen, one sophomore, one junio and two seniors, and I feel good about the mesh of this group. My two seniors have done a great job talking to the team without me having to talk to them about the difference in playoff tennis," Jackson said. "My seniors have been on three good teams before this one; they've won three region titles -- and they know they can't worry about anything they can't control. So we're just focusing on ourselves right now.
"I feel like this is the strongest team we've had, one-through-seven, in a long time. And we've had some great teams. But this one just has amazing depth."
CENTENNIAL BOYS 4,
GAINESVILLE 1
The Gainesville boys tennis team saw their season come to an abrupt end Tuesday in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs at Longwood Park.
The Region 8-6A No. 1-seeded Red Elephants fell victim to a hot Centennial team 4-1. The Knights improved to just 6-10 on the season but took down state-ranked Alpharetta in the Region 7-6A tournament and added Gainesville (11-4) to its growing list of upsets.
Only sophomore Dylan Pineda came away with a win for the Red Elephants, beating Eric Darling 7-5, 6-2 at No. 2 singles to close out the match.
Centennial got 6-0, 6-0 wins at Nos. 1 and 3 singles as Robby Merrill beat Matthew Carter and Ben Burns fell to Nathan Jacob. The Knights also swept the doubles as Andrew Myer and and Jonah Bergman beat Gainesville’s Max Wuest and Caleb Anderson 6-0, 6-1. The Red Elephants’ Michael Head and Joseph Diaz lost 6-2, 6-0.
Gainesville coach Clark Weaver said he was expecting a tough matchup.
“Region 7 is so tough,” Weaver said. “They are very deep. Almost every team in that region has a couple of ranked players so we knew it was going to be a challenge.
“But I think it was a good season overall. No one expected us to win region and we have all but one guy (Wuest) coming back, and we have some rising freshmen coming up next year that we think will make us better and deeper. ”
Centennial will play host to the Creekview-South Paulding winner in the second round.
