Riley Griffin (serving) and Fatima Williams wrapped up another region win for the Lady Devils by winning a third set tiebreaker against Veterans. Tift is undefeated in 1-6A.

TIFTON — Winter sports have barely finished at Tift County High School. Before their seasons were done, however, spring sports began pressing for attention.

Soccer is getting reestablished. Track coaches are confident in a good season. Baseball is red hot and, now, tennis joining them. Tift County is well on its way to becoming titans of another type of court in 2023, based on how well the racket crew is doing.

After struggles in recent seasons, everyone is loving it.

“It’s really been a joy to be out there on the courts with them,” said head coach Ivey Vickers. “They’re playing hard, they’re working hard. Can’t ask any more out of our kids.”

Vickers could not remember the last time they started so hot. The estimates were from at least a decade before.

Tift wrapped up February with a double win against Veterans, increasing the Lady Devils’ record in region to 6-0 and the Blue Devils to 5-1.

Matthew Layfield and Tyson Lasseter polished off Veterans in straight sets to complete the first match of the day. Elijah Hellman and Maitrey Patel won singles matches in short order to secure the win. The route for the Lady Devils was a bit more difficult.

Veterans was unable to return a serve on a tiebreaker for Riley Griffin and Fatima Williams to decide their match. Until that point, both Tift and the Lady Warhawks had two wins apiece.

Brayden Callison had previously won at singles, with Kylei Cutts and Anna Lupo providing the second win at No. 1 doubles. Anna Claire Owens and Caydence Gabel had fallen in their singles matches.

After winning their first three matches, the Blue Devils completed the sweep with Christian Mathis and Malachi Evans winning their doubles match and Ross Peters winning at No. 3 singles in straight sets.

Tuesday’s matches against Veterans began the second half of the Region 1-6A campaign. During the first half, the teams combined for a region match record of 41-9. Four of the boys’ region contests saw Tift sweep 5-0.

The key, Vickers thinks, is match experience and confidence. “They got a couple of wins under their belt and started believing, ‘Hey, we can do this.’”

Tift is very much a team in 2023, cheering each other on, pumping each other up. They cannot wait for match days.

“It’s a whole different ballgame for us,” Vickers said.

Everything has been competitive, even the rare losses they have suffered. Against an always good team of Lowndes Vikettes, Tift was edged 3-2. The deciding result was a tiebreaker.

Vickers pointed out the team is still pretty young. Freshmen have been stepping up left and right. Two of the Devils’ regulars on singles, Maitrey Patel and Elijah Hellman, are a sophomore and freshman, respectively.

As great the team is doing, they are not getting ahead of themselves. Vickers said they are taking it one day at a time, one match at a time, one point at a time. She also reminds them that despite the individualistic nature of tennis, this is still very much a team sport: “We have to get three wins to make a (team) win.”

Hunter Gaskins and Teresa Walker assist with tennis.

“They’ve done a tremendous job,” said Vickers.

Tennis is scheduled to play at Northside (Warner Robins) March 2 before traveling back in that direction March 3 for a tournament at Houston County.

The next home matches are March 9 against Thomas County Central.