The Greenville High School tennis team advanced to the state tournament this week with the girls taking the sectional championship in Troy and the boys taking second in sectional competition.

&#8220I had no idea these kids would go down there and dominate the way they did,” Greenville head coach William Champion said.

On the girls' side, Carrie Victoria and Lauren Poole both emerged as individual sectional champions with Victoria taking the match 6-4 over Benjamin Russell and Poole taking the victory 6-4 over Valley.

&#8220Lauren Poole has been the most improved (girls) player for us this season,” Champion said. &#8220And Carrie Victoria is a very awesome young girl who lost, maybe, one match the entire season.”

The girls took first with 40 points, while Carroll-Ozark took second with 37 points.

On the boys' side, Clark Young and Aaron Rice took the only sectional championship for the boys with a doubles victory after the tournament was suspended for five hours due to severe weather.

Although no other boy won an individual or doubles championship, Champion said Tanner Poole, Vernon Harris and Hayden Duke all played extremely well.

&#8220Tanner Poole is just an impressive player,” Champion said. &#8220Vernon Harris has also done extremely well for us and Hayden Duke has been our most improved (boys) player.”

Benjamin Russell took home the boys' sectional championship with 52 points, followed by Greenville with 28 points.

&#8220They were just awesome,” Champion said of Benjamin Russell.

Both the first and second place teams in each sectional competition advance to the state tournament.

The state tournament will be held Monday and Tuesday at the Mobile Tennis Center.

&#8220I think we stand a pretty good chance of scoring a lot of points,” Champion said of the Tigers' chances at state. &#8220They may not win, but they'll play hard and make an impact.”

Matches start Monday at 7:30 a.m.