LOA wins first state tennis championship
The Lake Oconee Academy boys’ tennis team defeated Telfair County in the GHSA Class A-Public state championship three games to one on the largest hard-court venue at Berry College this past Saturday.
The undefeated Titans continued to play their brand of tennis as all of the team’s All-Region players secured the win for head coach and Region 8A-Public Coach of the Year Tom Imhof. Imhof was proud of all his
Imhof was proud of all his guys, especially the team’s only senior Noah Gessner after he and freshman Adam Kalmanowicz secured the Titans’ first state championship in program history.
“When he came back this year, you could tell he didn’t want to be stopped. Where he was going, it was state championship or bust,” Imhof said. “He’s a quiet leader, even though he’s sort of a jokester, he leads by example.”
First Team All-Region and Region 8A-Public Player of the Year Cooper Ciavola dominated his opponent in two sets with both ending in a 6-0 sweep.
No. 2 singles and fellow First Team All-Region player Maddox Cantrell stayed undefeated on the year as well, winning his final match in convincing fashion and allowing the Gessner/ Kalmanowicz duo close it out after the Titans’ No. 3 singles player Garrett Payne just barely lost his match 30 seconds before.
Imhof acknowledged that the convincing win would not have been attainable if it hadn’t been for Ciavola’s dominance on the court.
“He never even came close to losing a set all season,” Imhof said. “He was just head and shoulders above everyone he played against. It was like a man playing against boys, and he is only a junior.”
On top of that, Imhof believes Cantrell’s determination was huge for the team’s ability to come away with a victory.
“He had some tough matches here and there, and his match in the state championship was difficult. His opponent was definitely worthy,” Imhof said. “His opponent was up 4-3 in the first set, but Maddox came back three straight sets to win, 6-4. After that, I think the guy was just deflated and Maddox won the second set, 6-2.”
Overall, the Titans were excited to play on the big stage and none more than Ciavola.
“It was just super electric because if we weren’t yelling ‘come on’ and hyping each other up, then you could hear people in the distance hyping their teams up,” Ciavola said. “So it was super fun to be basically playing at the same time.”
With only Gessner graduating, the team returns most of its players and will also add a few more from the eighth graders coming up. All-in-all, the Titans are primed to make a similarly deep playoff run next season.