Piedmont Tennis Competes at State

Piedmont Academy’s varsity tennis players competed at the region tournament on April 10 at Brentwood in Sandersville.

Representing the Piedmont Academy boys were Cody Brimberry at No. 1 singles; Banks Benton and Beau Bradley at No. 1 doubles and Daniel Respess and Caleb VanderVen at No. 2 doubles.

For the Lady Cougars Gracie Hunt played No.1 singles; Emily Mills was at No. 2 singles, Anne Marie Hildebrant and Grayson Bradley competed at No. 1 doubles and Ivy English and Ryn Smith were at No. 2 doubles.

In singles play at region, Brimberry put up a hard fight but lost to Drew Wilson of Brentwood. In doubles, Respess and VanderVen played Briarwood and fell in the first round. Freshmen and newcomers to tennis Banks Benton and Beau Bradley won their first round against Briarwood before falling in the second round to Brentwood.

For the girls, Hunt won her first round against Windsor but was defeated in the second round by Brentwood. Emily Mills lost at No. 2 singles against Thomas Jefferson’s top player.

In doubles action, Hildebrant and Bradley had a bye for the first round, defeated Thomas Jefferson in the second round before falling just short in the third round against Brentwood.

English and Smith came out strong against Briarwood but ended up falling short at the end of the match.

Both of Piedmont’s No. 1 doubles teams qualified for state. Bradley and Benton and Bradley and Hildebrandt competed April 17 at the John Drew Smith Tennis Center in Macon.

In girls doubles, Bradley and Hildebrant played a challenging match and came up short against the defending state champions, Milz Cain and Anna Matthews from St. George Episcopal School.

For the Piedmont boys, Benton and Beau Bradley faced off against the No. 1 seed, falling to Riley Powers and Austin Clay from Oak Mountain.

“We would like to thank our parents for all of their help and congratulate the team members on a fun and successful season,” said coach Alison Hildebrant.