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OCHS Warrior Tennis Wins at West Hall

The teams pulled out a couple of key region wins at West Hall Monday, to each clinch top seed in the upcoming region 8-AAA tournament in mid April.

The Lady Warriors capitalized on another dominant performance at the three singles spots and at number two doubles, to easily down the Lady Spartans 4-1 on the road and boost their overall record to 13-2 on the season. The win also kept their region record spotless at 11-0.

At number one singles, Freshman Jordan England won 6-3, 6-1 over Kelly Lingle. Katy Kane, at number two, made short work of Suzanna Pate 6-1, 6-1 and Caroline McElhannon, playing three, followed suit by blasting by Kathryn Young 6-1, 6-0. The Lady Warriors' fourth point came from the number two doubles team of Megan Morris and Ivy Do, who had little trouble enroute to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Thu Bni and Jennifer Clarin.

The OCHS boys had a more difficult task in their 3-2 win over the Spartans, but ultimately got two singles wins and a key win at number two doubles to propel them past the host Spartans for their 14th win of the season. The win elevated the Warriors overall record to 14-1 on the year, and an 11-0 region record, with only today's match vs Monroe Area standing in the way of a perfect 12-0 region record in the regular season. The win also allowed the Warrior boys, like the girls, to claim top seed at next month's region tournament, also being held here at Flowery Branch.

Will McDonald, playing in the number one position, won in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 over Max Wilson. Senior team leader Sam Ondo, playing number two, followed shortly thereafter with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-4 victory over Conner McFall, to put the Warriors within one point of the team win. Meanwhile, Conner Smith at number three singles and the number one doubles team of Zach Miner and Drew Horsley were in very tight matches that could have gone either way. However, it was Hunter Pritchard and Dan Madden, the resilient number two doubles tandem, that came through again with a key victory 6-2, 6-4, this time against Austin Dyer and Conner Kirkland, that clinched it for the visiting Warriors.  

Dan Madden, who teamed with Hunter Pritchard to gain the deciding third point at number two doubles for the Warriors, commented after the match, "It was a good win for us and it think really helps the team's confidence, and mine, going into the region tournament next month."

Both girls and boys wins meant that as far as the regular season is concerned, OCHS was able to sweep at home and away, two of the best teams in region 8-AAA, Gainesville and West Hall. 

After the match, Coach Dan Gruetter said, "The girls were on a roll, they came up here and took care of business the way we knew they would. The boys had a tough match. It's very hard to beat a good team twice in a row, and certainly hard to beat them at their place, but we came up here and won 3-2 and that's the sign of a champion. We hope these wins will put us in the driver's seat going into the region tournament and we hope to come out of that with a win."

The Lady Warriors and Warriors play host to Monroe Area today at 4:15pm at OCHS in their final regular season region match.

 

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