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Central sweeps to crown

The Bears take their fifth consecutive 3-A girls district title in style, dropping one set in seven final matches.

NEW PORT RICHEY - Central has grown so dominant in local girls tennis that its district championships can be measured best by their near-flawlessness.

The Bears cruised to their fifth consecutive crown in Class 3A, District 6 on Tuesday, and for the second year in a row, Central swept all five singles titles and both in doubles, dropping only one set.

"We won with (the maximum) 21 points last year, and that was our goal again this year," said coach Joe Nicolai, whose team will host a regional dual match at 3 p.m. Friday. "We had lofty goals from the beginning. We wanted to beat Lecanto, which we did. We wanted to win districts, we wanted to win regions and wanted to bring the whole team to states. Everything has been working toward that end."

Freshman Jeanette McDonald had an easy 6-0, 6-0 win against Springstead's Jenna Pecsenka at No. 1 singles, and Shelane Etchison and Irene Cho lost a combined three games in straight-sets wins at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively. For Etchison, the win was her fourth district singles title, having won at No. 4 as a freshman, No. 2 as a sophomore and No. 1 last year. Shaena Keefe, the lone Bear to lose a set, edged River Ridge's Ryane Hille, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

Mitchell topped River Ridge by a point for runner-up honors, and the Knights played without sophomore Lauren Hille, the district's top seed at No. 3 singles, who was on crutches after injuring her leg in a basketball game Saturday.

Mitchell had three runners-up in singles: Bernadette Boac, Courtney Whiting and Beth Phillips.

NEW PORT RICHEY - Vu-Anh Thai led Land O'Lakes to an easy 3A-6 title and picked up an individual crown along the way.

Thai, who lost two regular-season meetings with two-time defending champion Gregg Strange of Mitchell, avenged those with a 6-4, 6-2 victory that sparked the Gators on a day they took six of seven finals matches.

"Getting a singles-doubles sweep, it feels good," said Thai, a junior who teamed with undefeated senior Kyle Staiger to win 6-1, 6-2 in No. 1 doubles. "I felt like I was always one step ahead (of Strange) today."

Staiger lost one game in winning at No. 2 singles, Mike Seidl lost two at No. 3 singles and Justin Hill clinched the victory with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles.

Both doubles matches were straight-sets wins, and the Gators' only finals loss came at No. 5 singles, where Nathan Kott lost 6-0, 7-5 to Central's Tony Bulso.

Springstead, which took second, had singles runners-up in Lester Nichols, Chris Greifenberger and John Tenison, with Nichols and David Roebuck taking second at No. 2 doubles.

Land O'Lakes hosts a regional dual match at 3 p.m. Friday, hoping to send the entire team to the state tournament. A regional loss last year meant Thai and Staiger were the only Gators contingent at states.