GREENE COUNTY
Both Lake Oconee Academy tennis programs have advanced to the Final Four of the GHSA Class A Division II state tournament after dominating their competition in the last couple of matches.
Two weeks ago, both Titan teams hosted Georgia Military Prep (GMC Prep) in the Sweet 16 of the playoffs and swept the Bulldogs three matches to none.
Lake Oconee Academy head coach Tom Imhof acknowledged how successful GMC Prep has been recently, and that it was nice to be able to come out on top.
“In the five years I’ve been here, GMC Prep has been dominant in most sports, and many times, we’ve gotten the short end of the stick playing against them,” Imhof said. “It was nice that we were finally able to get over a little hump and beat them this time around.”
The girls started the afternoon with the No.1 and 2 doubles groups playing at the same time as the No. 1 and 2 singles players.
The pairing of Georgia Bosart and Hannah Heinen was the first to defeat its Bulldog opponents, and the second pairing of Hailey Heinen and Riley Payne defeated their duo shortly after. Top Lady Titan singles player, Love Kalpak, defeated her opponent in straight sets just before No. 2 singles player Willa Kent beat her girl for a clean sweep.
After the girls finished their match, the boys took the court to try and achieve the same results.
No. 1 singles player Cooper Ciavola dominated his opponent to stay undefeated on the season, and No. 2 singles player Maddox Cantrell did the same. The two Titans’ doubles teams consist of Adam Kalmanowicz and Justin Zahler in one and Christian Moore and Wyatt Imhof in the other, and both came out on top in their matches against GMC Prep as well.
Imhof believes it’s been the performances from the Titans’ doubles teams on both squads that have bolstered their resume to this point.
“This year, for both boys and girls, our singles have been steady and consistent, but our doubles have just been dominant,” Imhof said. “They’ve gone undefeated in the region, they are undefeated in the state tournament so far and have just been beating opponents really badly. We’ve been heavily relying on both doubles teams to get two of the three wins that we need to advance, and they’ve come through every time.”
The Titans continued their dominance as they advanced further into the tournament.
Recently, both Lake Oconee Academy teams swept their opponents in the Elite 8 to move on to the state semifinals. The girls played against Lanier County and won in another sweeping fashion, while the boys did the same against Charlton County earlier this week.
The girls team will take on Christian Heritage Academy in the next round of the state playoffs and the boys team prepares for Seminole County. Both Titan teams will host their opponents sometime before May 8.
The girls have never played Christian Heritage, but the boys have faced Seminole County in the last two postseasons and have come out on top in both matches.
Ultimately, both Titan teams will look to carry the momentum they’ve gained over the past couple of weeks into the GHSA Class A Division II State Championship.