The Chamblee Bulldogs rolled to a 4-1 victory over Villa Rica on Wednesday at Chamblee to move into the Class 5A boys’ Sweet 16.

A relatively easy sweep at doubles for the Bulldogs balanced out a tough round in singles.

Dixon Hall and Manav Matthews improved to 3-4 on the season at No. 1 doubles with a 6-0, 6-4 victory. Jake Busch and Jake Gies teamed up at No. 2 doubles for the first time this season winning easily 6-1, 6-2.

Sam Lehman who has had a solid year at No. 1 singles fell to 11-4 overall on the season with a tough 2-6, 0-6 loss to his counterpart from Villa Rica.

Chase Starks improved to 8-2 at No. 2 singles and 10-5 overall with a tough 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 victory.

Carter Difonzo upped his record to 5-0 at No. 3 singles with a hard fought tie-breaker win. Difonzo lost the first set 4-6 and pulled out a 7-5 win in the second set to force a tiebreaker. Difonzo cruised to a 10-3 victory to finish off the match.

The Bulldogs move on to host McIntosh on Monday with the time yet to be determined.

In other Class 5A boys’ action, Clarkston (2-8) fell 5-0 to Carrollton in first round action on Tuesday. Columbia (7-5) and Southwest DeKalb (8-13) both lost their first round Class 5A girls’ matches 5-0 to Kell (19-0) and Carrollton (17-4), respectively.

The Lakeside Vikings’ season came to an end in the first round of the Class 7A state playoffs as Lambert blanked the Vikings (9-9-1) 3-0 to advance.

Druid Hills fell 3-0 on the road at Mary Persons in the first round of the Class 4A boys’ state tournament while Stone Mountain dropped a 3-0 decision to Greater Atlanta Christian in Class 3A play.

Three state tournament matches are on tap today with Arabia Mountain (6-2) hosting Rome at Sugar Creek at 5:00 pm in Class 5A girls’ play. Chamblee’s undefeated Lady Bulldogs (20-0) take on Woodland (Cartersville) at 2:00 pm at Chamblee today after getting rained out on Tuesday.

Southwest DeKalb (11-9) plays host to East Paulding in a Class 5A boys’ first round match at Dottie Bridges Tennis Center with the start time set for 5:00 pm.

2017 DCSD TENNIS STATE PLAYOFFS RESULTS
First Round State Tournament
Tuesday, April 18
Kell (19-0) 4, Columbia (7-5) 0
Carrollton (17-4) 5, SW DeKalb (8-13) 0

Class 5A Boys
Carrollton 5, Clarkston (2-8) 0

Wednesday, April 19
Class 7A Boys
Lambert 3, Lakeside (9-9-1) 0

Class 5A Boys
Chamblee (13-5) 4, Villa Rica 1

Class 4A Boys
Mary Persons 3, Druid Hills 0

Class 3A Boys
Greater Atlanta Christian 3, Stone Mountain 0

2017 DCSD TENNIS STATE PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
First Round State Tournament
Thursday, April 20                       
Class 5A Girls
Rome at Arabia Mountain (6-2), Sugar Creek, 5:00 pm
Woodland at Chamblee (20-0), 2:00 pm

Class 5A Boys
East Paulding at SW DeKalb (11-9), Dottie Bridges Tennis Center, 5:00 pm

Monday, April 24
Second Round State Tournament
Class 6A Boys
Creekview vs. Tucker (13-2), Sugar Creek, 5:00 pm

Class 6A Girls
Creekview vs. Tucker (13-2), Sugar Creek, 5:00 pm

Class 5A Boys
McIntosh vs. Chamblee (13-5), TBA

To Be Determined
Class 4A Girls
Druid Hills at Heritage-Catoosa, TBA