Leon girls win state tennis championship
Score one major upset for the Leon High girls tennis team — and for the Panhandle.
Senior Andrea Caspary and junior Megan Kolman won individual state titles and a doubles title to help lead the Lions to the Class 3A team championship Thursday afternoon at Sanlando Park in Orlando.
Leon is the first Tallahassee school to win a team title — girls or boys — at the state tournament. It also becomes the first school from the Panhandle to claim a state championship in the sport.
"I'm not so sure it's set in yet," Leon coach Kevin Record said a couple hours after his team clinched the crown. "This is my eighth season coming here and I respect the tournament so much. For us to be holding the trophy at the end of it is a phenomenal feeling."
Caspary, Leon's lone senior, won the individual title at No. 4 singles. Kolman, the lone junior, won the individual title at No. 3 singles. The pair then teamed up to win state at No. 2 doubles in the match that clinched the team title for Leon.
Caspary said she and Kolman didn't really know what to do once the doubles match — and state title — were officially in hand.
"So we just looked at each other and started laughing," Caspary said. "Then we started jumping up and down and hugging. Then the whole team came out there."
Leon also sent three freshmen to the state tournament — Mary Phillips Smith, Caroline Shafer and Lindsey Welch. Each of the three scored key points that made the difference in Leon's team victory.
Smith lost her No. 2 singles semifinal match in three sets to Leslie Raymond of Barron Collier. Welch also lost to a Collier athlete, Carly Morrison, 6-3, 6-1 in a No. 5 singles semifinal.
And Shafer and Smith teamed up to make the No. 1 doubles semifinal before losing to Lindsey and Leslie Raymond of Collier, 6-3, 6-1.
Record credits their first-round victory Wednesday to be the table-setter for the title.
"If we don't win that point, we're not in a position to lock it all down today," Record said.
Elsewhere, Maclay's boys finished tied for fourth in the 1A state tournament.
Chris Perrigan and Brett Landau lost their No. 1 doubles semifinal in three sets to Yuta Hirokawa and Eric Seidelman of American Heritage.
"It was a good showing," Maclay coach Corbin Graves said. "I think we proved we are a pretty darn good doubles team."
Landau and William Baldock also fell in their respective singles semifinals.
On Maclay's girls side, Morgan Wilkins and Maddie Loeb also lost their semifinal matches, but overall Graves was encouraged by his team's performance.
And so should Leon, which Record admits surprised him a bit with its ability to win state.
"To win state with a squad that young, it's pretty shocking," Record said. "I'm still a little bit in shock right now. But I told them, they're as good as any team I've brought down here. And they proved it."
