The Heritage Patriots girls and boys tennis teams capped off their Region 8-AAAAA season Thursday night with a pair of sweeps over rival Salem on Senior Night, clinching a top-3 bid in the league heading into the region tournament.
The Patriots downed Salem 5-0, dropping just nine games against the Seminoles, while Heritage’s girls program surrendered just two individual games in a 5-0 win.
With the victories, both teams finished third in the region, while the girls’ program improved to 8-4 overall and 6-2 in Region 8-AAAAA before the boys’ moved to 9-5 overall and 6-2 in the region.
Lady Patriots dominate
The Heritage girls’ program led 1-0 before the first can of ball was opened on the court, taking a victory in No. 1 singles after Salem was forced to forfeit the match. The Lady Seminoles’ Nisha Wirsiy was nowhere to be found when the match was ready to begin, and after Wirsiy never showed, Hetage’s Bianca Brown was awarded the victory.
Fran Murray earned a 6-0, 6-0 sweep over the Lady Seminoles’ Miuh Nguyen in No. 2 singles and Logan Bouchillon rounded out Heritage’s perfect day in singles with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Johnny Morgan in No. 3 singles.
In doubles action, Heritage’s Julie Roseberry and Addy Allegretti defeated Salem’s Olivia Gibson and Kiana Lee 6-0, 6-0 in No. 1 doubles, and in No. 2 doubles Melissa Godwin and Becca Rackley downed the Lady Seminoles’ 6-1, 6-0, wrapping up the 5-0 win.
“This was our final region game and it solidified our No. 3 spot in the region behind Gainesville and Flowery Branch,” Heritage girls coach Brian Smith said. “We really wanted to honor our seniors tonight on Senior Night and go out with a win. They’ve put in a lot of time and effort for us over the years and so it was great to have a positive note for them to go out on.”
Boys clinch third
In the boys’ contest, Heritage opened with three wins in singles play, as T.J. Wilson led off the Patriots with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Nate Lockett in No. 1 singles.
Ronnie Flow and Kevin Blum continued Heritage’s winning streak in No. 2 and No. 3 singles, downing Abdullah Khan 6-1, 6-0 and Taylor Stacey-Miller 6-1, 6-1, respectively.
Heritage’s No. 2 doubles team picked up the first win of the day for the Patriots. Dylan Dedrick and Darius Lewis defeated Salem’s Thomas McCray and Musa Florence 6-1, 6-0. Heritage finished the doubles sweep in No. 1 doubles with Jay Vinson and Levi Lynd taking down the Seminoles’ trio of Nate Wright, Stacey-Miller and Khan 6-2, 6-0.
“Feels good to get a win tonight in our last region match,” Heritage boys coach Chuck Landy said. “We finished up with a three seed for the tournament, which is good for our program. We’ll wrap-up our regular season next week with three non-region games and then we’ll look forward to the region tournament.”
Region tournament action begins for the Patriots and the Seminoles after spring break.
