Tennis teams on road to region finals
Walt Hodges has waited until Tuesday’s three-hour bus ride to Live Oak Suwannee to discuss last year’s region semifinal match.
Most of the Arnold Lady Marlins remember their season ending with a 4-3 loss to Suwannee, so it won’t take much from Hodges to motivate them.
Arnold will make the trip again to Suwannee for the Region 1-2A girls semifinals at 1 p.m. CDT.
“I’ll try to get them motivated and pumped up,” Hodges said. “I hear that their number-one girl has graduated and we have a new girl that came in as number one, plus our returners from last year.
“I know that we have a stronger team this year and I think that it’s going to be a really close match, a really good match, but we’re expecting to bring back a win.”
Freshman Bianca Biglione is the only new face on this year’s roster and could benefit from the experience of upperclassmen such as four-year veterans Olivia Stein and Alexis Cooper at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.
The Bay boys team also advanced to Region 1-2A semifinals for the second consecutive year and will travel to Tallahassee Rickards for a 1 p.m. CDT match at Tom Brown Park. While the Tornadoes aren’t being prompted by revenge this round, they share the theme of unfamiliarity with their opponent.
Bay coach Kay Kovaleski knows that Rickards defeated Wakulla this year, the team Bay defeated in last year’s regional semifinal.
“They tied in the district and then they had a playoff and Rickards won 4-3. I’m thinking we should be OK,” Kovaleski said. “If they had won 7-0, or something, I’d be pretty worried. I think we should be able to match up and be OK.”
Kovaleski expects her top two singles players, No. 1 Jason Moody and No. 2 Tyler Barr, to win their matches and then pair for a doubles victory, leaving Bay needing just one more win to advance.
“Then out of the rest of them, whoever shows up,” Kovaleski said. “Some days they do, some days they don’t. If we start out real good at one and two, the rest of them will follow OK.”
In Class 3A, Mosley is in the same boat as its county foes.
The Lady Dolphins, who travel to meet Pensacola Washington at 3 p.m. CDT at the Roger Scott Tennis Center for their second consecutive Region 1-3A semifinal, don’t know much about the Wildcats.
“The girls just told me that their No. 1 player (Patricia Izbicki) is going to state,” Mosley coach Renee Whitton said. “I understand they’re beatable. But when I talked to the A.D., several of the girls had only lost one match and the only match they lost was to Gulf Breeze.”
Washington’s Paula Helme is a district champion at No. 3 singles.
Aside from a consistent No. 1 in Hillary Maddox, Mosley doesn’t pack the power of the other teams in the regional tournament. Whitton, however, expects No. 5 Chelsey Williams to produce a win to complement victories by No. 2 Megan Sizmur and No. 3 Ashley Ingram.
“What I do have is well rounded and gives you the best we have,” Whitton said. “What they’re going to have to do is figure out what their weak shot is and strong shot is and keep it to the weaker side.”
Winners Tuesday advance to the team regional championships on Thursday.
