Woodward Academy (18-1) defeated the RHHS boys Thursday 5-0 at RHHS. This ended the RHHS tennis season as the girls lost to Westover Tuesday in the Sweet 16 round.

"It was a great competitive match, with a great crowd and great plays by both teams," Wildcat tennis coach Jeff Graham said after the match. "I knew Woodward was good – but I didn’t know they were that good. They are a very talented group, but our boys did play some good tennis."

Despite the final score, there were some hard fought matches. No. 2 singles Chris Noonberg, No. 1 doubles Nic Balas and Ethan Lane, and No. 2 doubles Ted Noonberg and Kyle Guither all went down swinging while having competitive matches.

"It was a valiant effort," Graham said. "We may have lost this match, but we have a lot to be proud of this season."

The Wildcats ended the season with a 16-5 record. For Region 3-AAA, they won the region title and went undefeated. The girls went 9-10 for the season and only dropped one region match. Unfortunately, it was the one with the region title on the line, against West Laurens.

"It was a great season," Graham said. "We just got a bad draw in this last one. A lot of people are saying this Elite 8 match should have been for the state championship as it featured the two top teams."

Graham said the girls did well and were competitive in each match at the Sweet 16 versus Westover. He said they should be better next year as all four doubles players, Emily Li, Breanna Cota, Alsia Blaine and Lauren Bickes, are returning. Starting seniors Kendra Schneider, Sofia Dunleavy and Lauren Trivitayakhum will be gone. Schneider competed all year as the No. 1 singles player despite this being her first year of tennis.

For the boys, the team will lose Jason Trankle, Charles Zhu, Nic Balas, Ethan Lane and Kyle Guither to graduation. Graham said this will lower the talent level next year, but he is still predicting a successful defense of the Region 3-AAA title.