TIFTON — Tift County’s Blue Devils made quick work of Veterans Feb. 27 in a 5-0 team tennis win. The Lady Devils took Veterans, 4-1, scrapping every bit of the way.
The Devils swept sets in all five matches, with Veterans winning only six games in those 10 sets. Four of those games were from No. 1 singles. Maitrey Patel still dominated, 6-2, 6-2.
Joshua Hellman and the combo of Ross Peters and Seth Denham had 6-0, 6-0 matches. Tyson Lasseter and Matthew Layfield won 6-0, 6-1, as did Elijah Hellman in his match.
Kate Carpenter and Perrin Turner won 7-5, 6-0. Abby Lupo also won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Every other match needed three sets.
Riley Griffin dropped her first set 3-6, then evened the count 6-6 (7-5), then earned the match 6-4. Anna Lupo won her first set 6-4, then Veterans won a tiebreaker in the second set 6-6 (5-7) before Lupo finished her off at 6-3.
Scout Saturday and Maggie Grimes also had a middle set tiebreaker, though Veterans ended up with a match victory.
The Blue Devils won 3-2 over Valdosta Feb. 28. Doubles and Elijah Hellman at No. 3 singles provided the needed match victories.
Denham and Peters won their match, 6-0, 6-2 and Lasseter and Layfield had a 6-2, 6-2 win. Elijah Hellman won his first set, 6-2, but dropped the second, 4-6. He won a 10-7 tiebreaker to put Tift over the top.
In the other singles, Patel and Joshua Hellman fell. Joshua Hellman split sets, then had a very extended tiebreaker at 13-15.
Abby Lupo at singles and Saturday and Grimes at doubles had the victories in a narrow 3-2 loss to Valdosta.
Saturday and Grimes won their first set 7-5, fell in the second 3-6, then won a 10-5 tiebreaker. Abby Lupo won sets of 6-1, 6-1.
Riley Griffin and Anna Lupo lost, as did No. 1 doubles of Turner and Carpenter.