‘Cane Tennis Boys Win Region; Finish Regular Season 12-0-1

After several rain delays, the boys tennis team wrapped up the Region 4-AA championship last Friday when the Hurricane boys defeated Henry County 5-0.

Head Tennis Coach Paul Stokes said, “It was a pretty close match, but Brandon Deraney and Phillips Workman won the number two and three singles matches, to remain undefeated. Robert Pulliam won 8-5, and has only lost two matches the entire season, both to the number one ranked player in the state in his age group.

“We also won the number one doubles 8-5 and the number two doubles 9-7 in a tie breaker. “
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The team is still ranked number nine in the state coach’s poll and will play the first round of the state playoffs today, April 23 at Funderburg Park at 2 p.m. versus Dodge County, who finished in fourth place in Region 3-AA. If the team wins it will advance to play next Wednesday, April 29, also at home, versus a number two or three seed team from South Georgia.

Coach Stokes said, “The boys have a good chance to win. We will need to win five matches out of a 32 team bracket to get to the state championship. The region championship could be a first for Jasper County. So far we haven’t been able to find a trophy from the past. The kids are very excited.”

The Lady ‘Canes also defeated Henry County 3-2 giving them a 5-5 record in region play and secured a third place finish in the region. They won all three singles matches, but lost the number one doubles 8-2 and the number two doubles 9-8 in a tiebreaker.

The girls were scheduled to travel to Screven County for a first round match at 2 p.m. Wednesday, too late to report in this edition. If they emerge as a winner they would play a team to be determined on Wednesday, April 29.