High school tennis playoffs: Creek boys reach Elite 8 before loss to Columbus
Apr. 30—For the third time in four years, the Coahulla Creek High School boys tennis team reached the Class 3A Elite 8.
Just like in those previous three trips, the Colts hit a roadblock in the state quarterfinals.
Coahulla Creek bowed out of the state playoffs Monday with a 4-0 loss to Columbus. In trips to the Class 3A Elite 8 in 2021 and 2022, the Colts also fell in the state quarterfinals.
This year's run to the Elite 8 began with a Region 6-3A championship that granted the Colts a No. 1 seed for the playoffs. Creek dispatched Pickens 3-1 in the first round, with a win by Logan Parton in singles and the pairs of Alex Andrews and Ben Giles along with Jackson Thomas and Brayden Barbre getting doubles wins.
Creek downed Stephens County 3-0 in the Sweet 16 to punch their ticket to Monday's Elite 8 game.
Columbus moves on to face Wesleyan, the defending Class 3A state champion, in the Final Four.
The Colts were the last team from either Whitfield County or Murray County standing in the high school tennis playoffs.
The Christian Heritage girls, which won the Class A DII state championship last year, reached the state's second round before a 3-0 loss to Lake Oconee Academy. The Christian Heritage boys, the winners of Region 7-A DII, had a bye in the first round and fell 4-0 to Lake Oconee Academy in the second round of the Class A DII playoffs.
In the Class 2A boys playoffs, Murray County defeated North Cobb Christian 3-2 in the first round but fell 3-0 to Fellowship Christian in the Sweet 16. North Murray dropped 4-1 to Walker in the first round. North Murray's girls fell 3-0 in an opening-round match against Mount Paran Christian in the Class 2A girls playoffs.
The Coahulla Creek girls also reached the Class 3A playoffs alongside the boys, but the Lady Colts were defeated 4-0 by Dawson County in the first round.
The boys and girls teams from Northwest Whitfield both reached the Class 4A playoffs, but both fell in the first round. Holy Innocents Episcopal knocked off the boys 3-0, and Westminster beat the girls 5-0.
The Dalton High girls entered the Class 5A playoffs as the Region 7-5A champion, but the Lady Catamounts were upended 3-0 by Northview in the first round. The boys were felled 3-1 by Chattahoochee in the first round.
