STATE TENNIS ROUNDUP

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Jarrett Guthrie

Updated Apr 24, 2008 at 09:59 AM

Hillsborough County tennis players came up big today in the 3A state tennis tournament at two sites in Altamonte Springs. Wharton is leading the boys team competition with 10 points as three Wildcats’ singles players are in state final matches Thursday and in doubles semifinals in both Nos. 1 and 2. Mitch Wong, Rohit Navelkar and Bryant Fuller will play in singles finals Thursday at Sanlando Park. Wong and Navelkar will also play in doubles competition with Wong teaming with Alex Bartholomew and Navelkar teaming with Michael Alford. Wong and Bartholomew, both seniors are vying for their second title, winning the No. 2 doubles title in 2006.

Plant’s girls tennis team is in second place with eight team points behind St. Thomas Aquinas, which has 10. Plant’s No. 1 Amber Li and No. 2 Solange La Puente are both in the finals Thursday. Li and La Puente also won in No. 1 doubles and Carol Fraley and Morgan Nolan also advanced in the No. 2 doubles.
In 3A individual competition, Newsome’s Andy Hersh and Plant’s Joel Samaha both won matches today earning them a spot in different brackets of Thursday’s semifinals. Chamberlain’s Jamie Mera also won Wednesday advancing her to the semifinals. Mera will also play in doubles competition with Jennifer Miller.

—Andy Hersh said his routine was business as usual prior to his 6-4, 6-4 win against Bradenton Bayshore’s Aaron Despeghel. Hersh said his prematch routine includes 20 minutes of stretching and 10 minutes of jumping rope while listening to music (his choice today: Kanye West).
“I was excited about this match from the moment I got here,” Hersh said. “I felt like this was my match and it was time to do some work and kick some butt.”

—Wharton’s Nos. 1-5 all won their first matches Wednesday and three won semifinals matches, but they were not the only Wildcats in attendance. In total eight team players made the trip with Matt Diamond, Justin Le and Daniel Kirinich traveling with the team as alternates. Diamond, a senior spent a majority of the first set of Mitch Wong and Alex Bartholomew’s second match going 15 against 1. Diamond was a lone, but loud cheering section for his teammates against a big group of Ft. Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas players rooting for the Wharton opponents.
“I’m there to support my guys no matter how many people are against us,” Diamond said. “We came here to win and I’ll do everything I can to make that happen.”
Diamond was 5-0 this season in matches for Wharton.

—Plant is making the most of a new opportunity. This season a rule change in tennis allowed the district runner-up continue into region play and Plant defeated George Jenkins in the quarterfinals and got a measure of revenge against District 9 champion Chamberlain and advanced to the state tournament for the first time in Lynn Vu’s five seasons as Plant’s coach.
“We don’t have any rituals really because this is our first time getting here,” Vu said. “As runners-up I’d say things are going pretty well.”

CLASS 1A: Berkeley Prep’s girls made its first appearance in the state tournament Wednesday at Red Bug Lake Park in Cassleberry. Although it was a short trip, Buccaneers Gary Baker felt the trip was a success.

No. 1 singles Maria Datcu and No. 5 singles Anne Baldy won their quarterfinal matches but lost in the semifinals. Jaime Ayers (No. 2), Amanda Morejon (No. 3) and Sophia Kim (No. 4) all lost their quarterfinal matches.

“I did some networking while I was here, too,” Baker said. “I talked to coaches from Miami, Ocala and Tallahassee. They are all interested in coming to Tampa to play us — and going to Busch Gardens. I realized we need to play tougher competition if we want to make this a regular occurrence.”

In individual play, Tampa Prep’s Kelly Palmer and Alex Hallenbeck lost their quarterfinal singles matches while Palmer and Ellie Walling lost in the semifinals after receiving a quarterfinal bye. The Berkeley Prep doubles team of Zach Bandes and Brian Shim won their quarterfinal match but lost a three-seter in the semifinals.

CLASS 2A: Tampa Catholic’s Meghan Sullivan lost to Rebekah Kitto of Stanton, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the individual singles semifinals on Tuesday. She, and her sister Kelly Sullivan, lost in the doubles semifinals to Cocoa Beach, 6-2, 6-2.
Rick Harmon