Region tennis: Bay boys, Arnold girls eliminated

GULF BREEZE — Jason Moody used the Region 1-2A finals as his personal practice session Thursday.

The Bay junior won his singles match in straight sets and then teamed with No. 2 singles Tyler Barr in a preview of Monday’s FHSAA Finals for a doubles win. But the rest of the Tornadoes saw their season end in a 5-2 loss at Gulf Breeze.

“I really thought we’d win a few more matches that we didn’t win this time,” Bay coach Kay Kovaleski said. “Our No. 4 (Dylan McCormick), who won districts, he just wasn’t himself today. We thought we’d win that one. Our No. 2 (Barr), the other guy just played so well and never gave my guy a chance.

“They didn’t play awful, but I wouldn’t say they played the best tennis they ever played.”

The Tornadoes finished their season 7-6.

Bay’s No. 3 singles Pat Barry impressed Kovaleski despite losing 6-4, 6-4 to Alan Wang.

“Dylan was so capable of beating that kid,” Kovaleski said. “So was Tyler.”

With a healthy elbow, Moody has regained his early season form.

Moody and Barr were down 7-3 in their pro set doubles match to Clay Pfeifler and Gus Anastopoulo before Moody led them on a comeback.

“He’s starting to look really sharp again,” Kovaleski said. “He’s starting to look how he did before Spring Break. I was real pleased with him today.”

Results, with Bay players listed first:

• Singles — No. 1: Jason Moody def. Clay Pfeifler 6-4 7-6 (7-2), No. 2: Tyler Barr def. by Gus Anastopoulo 6-2, 6-4. No. 3: Pat Barry def. by Alan Wang 6-4, 6-4. No. 4: Dylan McCormick def. by Jay Martin 6-2 6-4. No. 5 Chris Owen def. by Josh Goldstein 6-1 6-2.
• Doubles — No. 1: Moody-Barr def. Pfeifler-Anastopoulo 8-7 (7-4). No. 2: Barry-McCormick def. by Wang-Martin 8-3.

Girls

Gulf Breeze 6, Arnold 1

Arnold couldn’t have been any more prepared for Gulf Breeze in Thursday’s Region 1-2A finals.

After two district matches this season and then watching Gulf Breeze in the district tournament, the Lady Marlins knew what was coming. They just couldn’t stop it.

Arnold (14-2) lost its bid for a state tournament appearance 6-1, with its lone win by Olivia Stein at No. 4 singles.

“We were just outmatched,” Arnold coach Walt Hodges said. “We knew it was going to be tough and we knew we were going to have to have a perfect day and they were going to have to have a bad day for us to pull it off.

“We knew we were the underdogs heading into the match. Sometimes you never can tell until you get out there on the court.”

Stein’s win gave her the region championship at No. 4 singles. She won her first set 6-4 but dropped the second 6-1 and was able to rally in the third for a 6-3 victory.

The other Lady Marlin to challenge for a region crown was Alexis Cooper, who claimed the first set against Katherine Farmer only to lose the next two.

“She played that girl in districts and the same thing happened in districts,” Hodges said. “What happened is she was playing really well and hitting the ball really hard and playing her kind of tennis and in the next set the other girl got up on her a couple of games and when she did that (Cooper) changed her whole style.

“She was scared to make a mistake. The other girl took advantage of that.”

Results, with Arnold players listed first:

• Singles — 1. Bianca Biglione def. by Jackie Kasler 6-2, 6-1. No. 2: Kali DeBerry def. by Jen Pfeifler 6-1, 6-1. No. 3: Tori Pettofrezzo def. by Tanya Walters 6-0, 6-0. No. 4: Olivia Stein def. Katherine Farmer 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. No. 5: Alexis Cooper def. by Laurin Halsted 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.
• Doubles — 1: Biglione-Pettofrezzo def. by Kasler-Pfeifler 6-0, 6-0. No. 2: DeBerry-Stein def. by Walters-Farmer 6-3 6-1.