Last Tuesday's showdown between the Starr's Mill and Westminster girls pitted a pair of 2014 state champions against one another. Starr's Mill, the reigning Class AAAAA winner, paid a visit to the Wildcats and pulled out a 3-2 victory. Westminster, which triumphed in Class AA in both 2013 and 2014, got doubles wins from Simrun Mithwani and Cyan D'Anjou and from Abby Seitz and Caitlyn Margol, but they could not solve their opponents' singles lineup. The Panthers took each of the last two matches in three sets to overcome a 2-1 deficit.

 The story was a different one on the boys' side, where Westminster has won four straight state championships and Starr's Mill has triumphed in two of the last five seasons. All three singles matches went in favor of the Wildcats, who were led by Al Hill at No. 1, Josh Doman at No. 2, and Josh Pinckney in the third spot. Westminster won the overall contest 4-1.

 With Westminster gone from Class AA, the door could be open for schools such as Greater Atlanta Christian, Holy Innocents', Lovett and Wesleyan. Holy Innocents' is getting accustomed to competitive matches, which could come in handy for the region and state tournaments. The Lady Bears beat Providence 3-2, lost to Riverwood 3-2, and fell to Walker 4-1. Each of the boys' first three dates on the schedule ended in 3-2 decisions, with wins over Providence and Walker in addition to a setback at the hands of Riverwood. Holy Innocents' battle with Riverwood came down to a final tiebreaker.

 In Class AAAAAA, Norcross had its way with Mountain View in a meeting between Region 7 rivals last Tuesday. The Blue Devil boys improved to 6-0 on the season thanks to a 4-1 win. Joe Miller and Ryan Lokhorst took care of their singles matches, while Jake Karalexis and Garrett Bruce prevailed at No. 1 doubles and Ricky Wilson and Matthew Chen got the job done at No. 2. Norcross' girls swept Mountain View 5-0. Amber Lackey, Rachel Luttrell and Michelle Huseonica put up points in singles; doubles winners were Allison Schreter, Leah Thomas, Lindsey Baker and Maya Tannenbaum.

 This upcoming Friday and Saturday, the annual Buckhead Rotary Tennis Tournament will take center stage. Among the competing teams are Chattahoochee, Lovett, Norcross, Pace Academy, St. Pius X, Woodward and Westminster. 

Two days after Pope toppled top-ranked Johns Creek 12-10 to make its case for No. 1 in Class AAAAAA, the Greyhounds were shutout in the first of Saturday's rivalry match with Walton 9-0 before suffering a 10-7 home loss.

 "That was a big win, obviously," Walton coach Griffin Spotz told the Marietta Daily Journal. "Our purpose on offense in the first half was to be methodical on offense and be a juggernaut." 

Read the recap here: The Marietta Daily Journal - Raiders sweat out victory  

Tekele Cotton who was a "do-everything" standout during his prep career at Whitefield Academy, scored a season-high 19 points as seventh-seeded Wichita State shocked second-seeded Kansas 78-65 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. 

"I'm speechless," Cotton said. "Like I heard Fred [VanVleet] say in the locker room, this feeling is unreal, and he was right about that." 

The senior from Marietta, GA. later went on to say, "This is one of the best wins that I've had ... we're just going to keep trying to advance, and that's our goal. That win was for Wichita, and it was a tremendous win. I'm glad we got that win, so no we can move on." 

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