Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Handful of locals move on

TAMPA - After Chris Lavoie lost his opening-round singles match Tuesday in the Class 2A state tournament at Hillsborough Community College, the Crystal River junior walked slowly off the court with a dejected look.

Later in the day, Lavoie left the court again, but this time with an ear-to-ear grin after he and teammate Brian DeMontfort earned a doubles victory to stay alive.

"It's awesome to be here," Lavoie said.

The duo was among the North Suncoast's few survivors Tuesday. The others to advance were: Yumi Hasegawa (singles, doubles) and Kumiko Fujioka (doubles) of Wesley Chapel and Keegan Ledford (No. 5 singles) of Hernando.

Hasegawa, a freshman who has lost just once this season in singles, had a first-round bye, then defeated Avon Park's Candice Anderson 6-1, 6-1. She later teamed with Fujioka to defeat sisters Elizabeth and Jillian DeRevere of Crystal River 6-0, 6-2.

Hernando, the lone area team to qualify for state, lost four of its five singles players and both doubles squads in the first round. Ledford not only won in the first round, but earned a convincing victory in the second. He plays for the No. 5 championship today. Lavoie, a three-time state qualifier, seemed to be thrown off his game by the wind in his singles match as he fell 6-1, 6-4 to Clewiston's Josh Irey. Despite the disappointment of that defeat, he regained his focus for doubles. For that, he had DeMontfort, his friend and neighbor, to thank.

"If I get down Brian picks me up," Lavoie said. "And if he gets down, I pick him up."

They defeated Josh Simonetta-Lee and Chase Price of Cocoa Beach 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 to reach the semifinals.

"I was nervous,' said DeMontfort, a freshman. "But I wanted to play my best."

Hudson's Juan Castenada and Lecanto's Shreya Rao, the area's other singles qualifiers, lost opening matches. Castenada fell 6-2, 6-3 to Simonetta-Lee. Rao rallied from an 0-5 first-set hole to make a match of it, but lost 6-3, 7-5 to Cali Sachs of Jacksonville Stanton.

"It's fun when you know you're playing your best," Rao said.

The Saddlebrook boys, who finished second in the state last season, are in position to contend for a state title today with three singles players advancing to the finals in Tallahassee.

Ryan Waits, the Spartans' No. 1 player, advanced to the singles final against Delray Beach American Heritage's Sam Chang, the defending Class A champ. Clint Bowles, Saddlebrook's No. 2 player, and No. 3 player Gian Hodgson also won and will play in their singles finals.

No. 5 Eugene Fellman won one match but lost in the semifinals, and No. 4 Rudy Harrer lost in the opening round for Saddlebrook, which still has both doubles teams alive entering today's semifinals and finals.

"It's going to come down to doubles, and I think both of our doubles teams have a good shot to win," said coach Matt Holsopple, who did not know the team scoring after Tuesday's competition.

All five singles players for Saddlebrook's girls team won their opening matches, but all five - Alina Sullivan, Christy Liles, Lindsay Gray, Yui Shimizu and Kourtney Stark - lost in the semifinals. Both doubles teams advanced to today's semis.

Holsopple said the most important thing for his teams Tuesday was that nine of 10 singles players won opening matches, giving the Spartans crucial points in the standings that will determine the boys and girls state champions.

"That makes a huge difference, and we're going to need all of those points come (today)," he said.

- GREG AUMAN