The varsity tennis teams traveled to Northgate High School in Newnan to play the Vikings March 8 and played Union Grove at the Peachtree City Tennis Center in Planterra March 11.

Northgate, last year’s fourth seed in the region, have a strong team this season, but the boys tennis team may be better than ever before. Junior Andrew Obsitnik said, “Although Northgate qualified for the state tournament last year, so they’re no easy team, we beat them last year, and we beat them this week as well.”

Last year, the girls team from Northgate was the third seed, while McIntosh was the first seed. Both the girls and boys teams came home with victories, almost guaranteeing a higher seed than Northgate. The girls won a close match up 3-2; the boys crushed Northgate 4-1, winning by 8-1, 8-1, 8-2 and 8-0 in their four victories.

Friday, Union Grove came to McIntosh to battle for seeding for this year’s state tournament. The Wolverines’ boys team came away with a victory in last year’s match, then advanced past the first round of the state tournament, only falling to eventual champions Lakeside-Evans. This year was different, however, according to junior Caleb Minor. He said, “Union Grove had a phenomenal team last year; they were definitely one of the best teams in the state. This year, though, we beat them. Union Grove lost some of their top players, and we’ve only gotten stronger, so I expect that we can go deeper into the state tournament than they did last year.”

Union Grove is a rival for the girls team as well; last year Union Grove qualified for the state tournament as the fourth seed in the region, while McIntosh was the first seed. However, both teams were knocked out of the state tournament by the same team, Glynn Academy. The boys team won a close match 3-2, and the girls emerged victorious as well; they won 3-2.

With victories over both Northgate and Union Grove, the tennis teams expect to carry this momentum into the late stages of the season.