Marist Opens GHSA 4A Girls Tennis Playoffs With 4-0 Win Over Pickens

On Monday, the Marist War Eagles girls tennis team hosted the Pickens Dragons in the opening round of the Georgia High School Association Class 4A tennis state playoffs. For the War Eagles, the beginning of the playoffs was a special moment for the team as they were not able to complete their 2019 title defense due to the 2020 season being cut short following COVID-19 outbreak. With a couple of seniors being a part of last year’s team and not being able to complete their final season of high school tennis, this year’s playoff run carries a little more meaning than previous playoff appearances and it showed in the final results as the War Eagles defeated Pickens 4-0 winning all sets by a final of 6-0. Wins for Marist included Singles 1 as Anya Nelson defeated Sarah Parks and Singles 2 with Lucy Kalbas defeating Chloe Imbriano. The doubles teams of Emma Fletcher and Bella Ferrer and Allie Dollar and Alden Laborde would each win their matches 6-0, 6-0.

Following the win, Marist head coach Jose Gregory discussed how having to watch last year’s season’s seniors not be able to complete their final high school season made this season and the start of the playoffs that more special. “The main goal for us this year was for the girls to have a complete season,” Gregory said, adding, “that was really important for the seniors because last year because of COVID-19 we weren’t able to finish and we really felt bad for those seniors.” Marist senior Caroline Roche also touched on how special this season and the start of the playoffs has been for the War Eagles. “We had two really special seniors last year and it was really hard to watch them not be able to play their last season,” Roche said. She added that, like many high school sports teams have been doing all season, they held special celebrations, like Senior Night, early in the season to ensure that they would be able to share those special moments. Up next for the War Eagles will be Flowery Branch on Thursday in the second round.

Watch highlights and post game interviews with Marist's Coach Gregory and Caroline Roche below now!