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Hersh eyes 3A crown

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By KATHERINE SMITH | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 27, 2009

Newsome's Andy Hersh is on familiar ground.

For the second consecutive year, Hersh advanced to the FHSAA Tennis Championships individual singles final. Hersh, who lost last year's final, made it through the Class 3A bracket Monday, dropping only one set en route to the final.

Hersh will play for the singles title today in Orlando. If he wins, Hersh will play the winner from the team singles bracket for the overall championship on Wednesday.

Hersh and his doubles partner, Colin Edwards, advanced to today's semifinals by defeating Colin Roller and Brandon Vang from Land O' Lakes.

In the team competition, the Wharton boys are poised to repeat as 3A champs, but just like last year, the Wildcats will have to outlast Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas. The teams are tied at nine points after the first day. Wharton has a shot at six points in today's matches, while St. Thomas has a shot at seven.

The Wildcats advanced four players to the team singles finals - Michael Alford (No. 1), Ben Hwang (No. 2), Rohit Navelkar (No. 3) and Bryant Fuller (No. 4). The No. 1 doubles team of Alford and Navelkar advanced to today's team semifinals.

Hoping to improve on last year's second-place finish, Plant's girls are ahead in the team standings after advancing three singles players - No. 1 Amber Li, No. 3 Claire Mitchell-Andrews and No. 4 Morgan Nolan - to today's finals. Both Panthers doubles teams advanced to today's semis.

"We had a really good day," Plant coach Lynn Vu said. "We left some points out on the court, but overall, we were very strong."

Berkeley Prep's girls state tournament ended Monday. The Bucs' Sofia Kim (No. 3) and Alex Barkley (No. 5) advanced to the semifinals in 1A competition but were ousted by No. 1 seeds. The Berkeley Prep boys doubles team of Brian Shim and Zack Bandes lost in the quarterfinals.

In the 1A individual competition, Tampa Prep's Alex Hallenbeck and Kelly Palmer were eliminated in the first round. The doubles team of Palmer and Heather Walsh also lost in the first round.

Reporter Katherine Smith can be reached at (813) 731-8025.

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