Thursday March 28th, 2024 10:01AM

Tennis: Region Tournaments get under way around the area

By Jeff Hart Sports Reporter

GAINESVILLE — Region tennis tournaments get under Wednesday with several area teams already qualifying for the state turnament and others looking to serve their way into the postseason.

Rains on Tuesday pushed several tournaments back a day.

The Region 8-6A tournament opens at Longwood Park with the Gainesville boys and girls team already having advanced to the state tournament. Both teams finished second during the regular season and will see their first action in the semifinals, which are slated to begin around 2 p.m.. The finals are scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday.

The Region 7-4A tennis tournament, which was scheduled to begin Tuesday as well, will begin at 10 a.m. at both the Flowery Branch High courts and at Alberta Banks Park. The Flowery Branch girls are the No. 3 seed while the Falcons boys are the fourth seed. The Flowery branch are coming off a state title run in Class 5A in 2018 but saw its team split with the opening of Cherokee Bluff. The West Hall boys and girls both come in as No. 5 seeds.

The Region 7-3A tournament opens at Dawson County with the North Hall girls coming in as the top seed and the North Hall boys as the No. 2 seed. Both earned automatic berths into the state tournament. The Greater Atlanta Christian bos are the top seed on the side.

North Hall coach Robert Woodworth said both tournaments should be competitive.

"The boys as a whole is a deep field but GAC is just so good I think it will be tough to knock them off," Woodworth said. "It will be a battle for second. Cherokee Bluff is really good. They have a couple guys from that Flowery Branch title team last year and Lumpkin and Dawson have solid teams. It should be a tough tournament but it should help prepare everyone for state.

"Our girls have played very well most of the season and we beat GAC n a very tight 3-2 match during the season. I expect those two teams to make the finals but it should be a another battle."

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