Youthful Sharks shrug off recent skid
By VINCENT THOMAS
Published March 29, 2006
BROOKSVILLE - Nature Coast tennis coach Tom Brown sat on a bench beneath a huge oak tree with his arms folded, looking relaxed Tuesday afternoon.
Host Hernando was on the verge of sweeping the Sharks for the season, with Ralleigh Williams, Chris Walters and Lance Vandevoort already winning their respective games, Seth Rumberger up in his match and a sure doubles win from the Williams- Walters team upcoming. It would be the Sharks' sixth loss in seven games - a slide to make any coach cringe, a brow-furrower.
Brown, though, just stretched his legs, rested his feet on the fence in front of him and calmly observed:
"Coming in, I knew this was a rebuilding season when I saw how young we were going to be," he said. The Sharks lineup consists of three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior. Brown said the freshmen, in particular, are having trouble with some of their more experienced opponents' power and stamina. Still, a young guy, such as David Harres, went three sets with Walters.
"They're tough. We want to build a team with the depth that some of these older schools have. The only way to get the depth is to get our young guys some experience," Brown said.
The Sharks started out the season 5-1, then came the string of losses. Brown said giving the team a week off during spring break probably hurt them.
"In the beginning of the season, we took a bunch of steps forward, but during spring break we took a couple steps back," he said. "But I know what we have to do before districts."
Brown didn't want to elaborate on the Sharks' weaknesses, though he did say shot selection has been a problem for some of his youngsters. Still, despite the slide, Nature Coast is 5-3 in the Class 2A, District 6 standings, behind Gulf and Hernando.
Hernando coach Anthony Miziko thinks the Leopards have a pretty strong lock on first place with only South Lake - which Nature Coast beat - and Pasco and Hudson - two cellar dwellers - left before next month's district tournament. The Leopards' only district loss came against Gulf, which Miziko credits to being without No. 1 Williams.
Brown said he had positioned Hernando and Gulf as the top two teams in the district earlier in the season. Miziko disagrees.
"I really respect Nature Coast's depth," Miziko said of the young Sharks. "I'd put them ahead of Gulf. They'll be a tough team come the districts."
Vincent Thomas can be reached at vthomas@sptimes.com or 352 848-1430.