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KEITH NIEBUHRThe Wesley Chapel doubles squad of Yumi Hasegawa and Kumiko Fujioka are all that remain after a rough Wednesday.
TAMPA - For area players competing at the state tournament, Wednesday was a time to take notes.
Of those alive when the day began, only the doubles squad of Yumi Hasegawa and Kumiko Fujioka of Wesley Chapel survived. It helped that they didn't have to play.
In singles, Hasegawa, a promising freshman, was the most notable player to fall, losing to St. Augustine Nease junior Sierra Poske 6-0, 6-0.
Poske, No. 7 in the Florida Girls' 18-and-under singles rankings, handed Hasegawa her second defeat this season.
"The girl she played is a tremendous player," Wesley Chapel coach Mark Kopp said. "She probably made less than five unforced errors in the match. She was just on fire. Yumi had to play perfectly and unfortunately she didn't but I'm very proud of her effort."
The score of Hasegawa's match was somewhat misleading. She had chances to win several games and the players often had long rallies.
"The match wasn't as bad as the score," Hasegawa said. "I think I could have done a little better, but it wasn't my day. She places the ball and is more experienced."
The Crystal River doubles team of Chris Lavoie and Brian DeMontfort had a similar experience. The duo, which won an opening match Tuesday, lost Wednesday in the semifinals to Eunsik Jung and Jong Won Cha of Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons, 6-1, 6-2, despite performing fairly well.
"They were playing good," Lavoie said. "They returned some of our best stuff with ease. It's humbling."
Hernando's Keegan Ledford also lost Wednesday, dropping a 6-0, 6-1 match to Creighton Blanchard of Jacksonville Bolles in the finals of the team competition at No. 5 singles. Ledford, a senior but first-year player, was the only player from his team - singles or doubles - to advance beyond the first round.
"I played as well as I could," Ledford said. "It was fun."
Hasegawa and Fujioka will play a semifinal match this morning. They were supposed to play Wednesday, but one half of the opposing team already had played three matches in the day and was given time to rest.