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Wildcats face Terriers

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A Tribune staff report

Published: April 21, 2009

VALRICO - Wharton didn't need to participate in doubles matches Tuesday. Having won four of the five singles matches, the Wildcats defeated Newsome in the first round of the Class 3A-Region 5 tournament.

Wharton, the defending state champions, faces Hillsborough in Thursday's Region 5 final for a spot in the state team competition. It's a rematch of the District 9 tournament, which Hillsborough won by one point.

Tuesday's No. 2 singles match between Wharton's Ben Hwang and Newsome's Colin Edwards was called after they split the first two sets and Newsome had been mathematically eliminated. Wharton's No. 1 singles player Michael Alford defeated Andy Hersh 6-2, 6-4 in a match that opened with the first two games spanning 30 minutes. Rohit Navelkar (No. 3), Bryant Fuller (No. 4) and Robby Bastain (No. 5) secured the other victories for Wharton.

Katherine Smith

Class 3A-Region 5

TAMPA - Hillsborough coach Charles Roberts spent a few minutes on Monday staring at the district trophy his team won and decided he needed an updated version.

The Terriers beat Lakeland Jenkins, 7-0, battling the wind, to win the regional and face Wharton on Thursday. Roberts said he is looking forward to facing Wharton, which the Terriers beat in the district title match last week.

"It's a big rivalry," Roberts said. "We haven't won since 2004 and now Wharton comes along and takes over for Plant as the big obstacle. Wharton is tough, but so are we."

The match will be played at Riverfront Park, Hillsborough's home court.

No. 1 player Alexander Peckham survived a scare from Joe Sopko, outlasting Sopko 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Brian Kowalski, Jay Mendoza, Jackson Murphy and Karim Saad won in straight sets and Kowalski and Mendoza teamed up to win easily in doubles. Peckham and Murphy were stretched but also won in straight sets. Saad was the only singles player to go three sets and downed Michael Fream, 7-6 in the third set.

Jeff Berlinicke

Class 3A-Region 3

LAND O' LAKES - When Shawn McGee took over as Land O' Lakes boys tennis coach this season, he had three goals for his Gators - finish .500 in regular-season matches, win the district title and win a region match.

Land O' Lakes finished the regular season 11-1 and won a playoff with Wesley Chapel to win the 3A-5 district title. But the Gators fell short Tuesday in the third goal as Oviedo Hagerty advanced to the region final with a 4-3 victory.

No. 1 Colin Roller, who won the district singles title and will play at the state final next week in Orlando, and No. 4 singles Domenic Dolente won their matches as the Gators trailed 3-2 after Brandon Vang lost a tough 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) decision at No. 2 singles. Vang came back from a 4-1 deficit in the third set to take a 6-5 lead and led 3-0 in the tiebreaker before falling to Hagerty's Derek Roth. Roller and Vang will also compete in the state double final.

At Daytona Beach, Wesley Chapel was defeated by Daytona Beach Seabreeze 5-1. No. 5 singles Stephen Diamantas was the lone winner for the Wildcats. The doubles matches were not played.

Rick Harmon

Class 2-Region 3

INVERNESS - The Wiregrass Ranch team had to have their No. 5 singles player come through. Fortunately, sophomore Eric Rivas did the job, defeating Citrus' Luis Delfin, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Rivas work allowed Wiregrass Ranch to win 4-3 and advance to a regional match Thursday at Lecanto.

The coach was relieved with the triumph Tuesday at Whispering Pines Park.

"There was too much pressure," Wiregrass Ranch coach Dave Wilson said. "It was 3-3 going into the final match.

"Citrus is good, a lot of class. Their kids made the right calls on the court.

"The fifth singles was a big one. He is a sophomore. He's never played in the regionals before. That was a real big win for us."

Larry Bugg

Class 1A-Region 5

TAMPA - For the most part, the regional semifinal competition at Harbor Island was close, even if the ultimate match outcome wasn't: Tampa Prep 5, Clearwater Central Catholic 2.

The last singles match to finish - a 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory at the No. 3 slot for Tampa Prep's Danny Hiedenberg over CCC's Andreas Lazaro - sealed the deal with four Terrapin match victories.

Now Tampa Prep (9-6) will host a regional final Thursday at 3 p.m. at Harbor Island against Shorecrest Prep, which defeated Berkeley Prep.The Buccaneers lone win came from No. 3 singles player Eric Fitz-Randolph.

"I expect it to be a close match against Shorecrest," Tampa Prep coach Mark Hoekstra said. "It was close the first two times we played Tampa Prep losing 4-3 in both, and this shouldn't be much different."

Hoekstra said he was optimistic because Tampa Prep's doubles teams have continued to improve through the season, a fact that could figure heavily in Thursday's final outcome.

On Tuesday, Tampa Prep's No. 1 Alex Hallenbeck set the tone with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Scott Purks

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