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Title hopes of Tigers diminish

By FRANK PASTOR

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 24, 2001

JACKSONVILLE -- Jesuit entered the Class 2A team tournament hoping to avoid a sixth consecutive second-place finish.

It appears the Tigers might get their wish. But not in they way they had hoped.

After the first day of competition Monday at the University of North Florida, Jesuit trailed first-place Cardinal Gibbons by five points and second-place Bolles by three.

With only three more points available, Jesuit must win all of today's matches and hope Bolles fails in each of its six scoring opportunities or the Tigers will finish no higher than third.

"I don't think we've advanced enough kids to the finals to have a chance," Jesuit coach Joe Curtis said.

Ryler DeHeart, Taylor Ralph, Nathan Moore and Rhys Leonard won first-round matches, but only DeHeart, the defending state champion at No. 1 singles, made it as far as the final round.

DeHeart and Ralph also won at No. 1 doubles, but it probably won't be enough to keep the Tigers' streak alive.

Jesuit did add to another streak of sorts. With Monday's victories, the Tigers have had 10 different players win singles or doubles matches at the state tournament over the past two seasons.

"That's two full squads," Curtis said. "That's a lot of depth. And with the competition out here, that's pretty darn good."

Elsewhere, Miranda Gutierrez split her singles matches and won in doubles to help the Tampa Catholic girls to a fifth-place tie.

Gutierrez fell to Carla Pallaras of Cardinal Neuman in the semifinals.

Gutierrez and Lorielle Ferlita remain alive in doubles play thanks to a straight-sets win in their opening-round match.

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