Saddlebrook sweeps tiebreaker with Terps

By TERRY JONES
Published April 21, 2005

VALRICO - After two days of intense tennis, the Tampa Prep and Saddlebrook girls were tied at 17 points, forcing the teams to meet Wednesday for an eight-game pro-set match.

Saddlebrook won all five Class A, District 8 singles matches, meaning no doubles had to be played.

"Tampa Prep is vastly improved this season and deserves all the credit for a very good tournament," Saddlebrook coach Martin Parkes said. "We were able to put it together a little better in the tiebreaker and hopefully that quality will help us move forward."

Saddlebrook No. 1 Kyui Shinizu and No. 4 Veronica Torres each won 8-0 over Tampa Prep's Andrea Meyphaler and Mary Ingram, respectively.

At the No. 2 position, Kourtney Stark won 8-4 over Kelly Palmer, No. 3 Victoria Kostina beat Hanna Blau 8-1 and No. 5 Leah Peranzi defeated Brittany Pierport 8-4.

Though there was no need to play doubles in the tiebreaker, Tampa Prep's Palmer and Meyphaler earned state berths by winning at the No. 1 spot Tuesday.

"We had the best season in the history of the school," Tampa Prep coach Mark Hoekstra said. "At least now we know we can play teams like Saddlebrook."

LATE TUESDAY: Newsome's girls and boys won Class 2A, District 11 titles at Lemon Bay. The boys swept all seven finals, scoring 21 points, and the girls won six finals, scoring 20. Lemon Bay's boys (12) and girls (14) finished second.

Newsome hosts Bishop Verot on Friday at Riverhills Country Club. Matches are set to begin at 3 p.m.

"We are really proud of our teams," girls coach Dave Peters said. "Last year our girls placed sixth in the state and I believe we are even better this year."

Winning individual district titles were Zoe Kent (No. 1), Alyssa Lafata (No. 2), Abby Martin (No. 3) and Kelly Raymond (No. 5). Jamie Anderson placed second at No. 2.

Zoe and Lafata combined to win at No. 1 doubles, and Martin and Anderson won at No. 2.

[Last modified April 21, 2005, 01:06:12]