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Lely girls moving on to regional tennis play
Boys have chance in final day
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It was win or go home in the Class 3A-District 12 Tennis Championships on Wednesday.
The Lely girls showed they wanted to go on, winning all the singles and doubles matches on the first of a two-day championship.
By virtue of victories, the Lady Trojans guaranteed the team moving on to regional play on Tuesday at either Lemon Bay or Bishop Verot, depending how those teams did in District 11 action.
Naples, No. 1 seed overall, did the same as Lely and was favored to win the District 12 title on Thursday, after the Eagle deadline. The Lely boys had a chance to finish second after being third on the first day.
The top two teams in district play advance to regional action.
Lely and Naples battled for the singles titles, while both advanced doubles teams to the semi-final round on Thursday.
“Our seniors revved up our younger players,” coach Kevin Smith said. “They basically said if we don’t produce we all go home. That wasn’t what the seniors wanted and everyone produced.”
Senior Lauren Mitchusson of Marco, playing No. 1, got Lely off to a good start with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Jessica Alsina of La Belle.
Senior Kara Sajdak, playing No. 2, controlled Jackie Calderon of Golden Gate, 6-2, 6-2.
Sophomore Jennifer Stout, No. 3, had a tough battle after a first-set 6-1 win over Rachelle Newkirk of Golden Gate. The second set, however ended at 6-6 in games, forcing a seven-point tiebreak that Stout won, 7-5.
Senior Anna Radliff, No. 4, kept it going, winning 6-2, then winning 7-6 following a tiebreak that she won 7-4 over Delianya Morera of Clewiston.
Katrese Daniel, No. 5, dominated Saintia SaintCyr of Immokalee, 6-2, 6-2.
In No. 1 doubles, Mitchusson and Sajdak were to play a Golden Gate team, while Radliff and Stout were to play a No. 2 Clewiston team. The winners of those matches were expected to face Naples teams.
“Naples was undefeated in district play so we knew from the start we were in a battle for second to advance the team to the regionals,” Smith said.
Lely was playing without its top player, Lauren Embree, who won state titles in singles and doubles in 2007. Embree is playing in a USTA tourney in California. By missing district play she will not be able to defend either title.
The Lely boys team, who lost its top two singles and doubles players, have had a rough season, yet still had a chance to finish second on Thursday.
At the end of the first day, heavily favored Naples had won all its matches, leading with 10 points, followed by Clewiston with 7 and Lely 6.
“I expect our chances of going on will be our doubles semi-final matches,” coach Daniel Johnson said.
Lely’s Cory Mendel and Zak Rabani, both of Marco, played a Clewiston doubles team. Jeff Lee and Randy Dudenbostel, both of Marco, played a Golden Gate team. If they won both matches they would advance.
It was not expected that they would win the championship round as their Naples opponents were undefeated in the district.
In No. 1 singles Mendel won his first match, 6-1, 6-1 over Jonathan Flores of Immokalee. In his second match he lost to top seed Josh Dancu, 6-1, 6-0, of Naples.
In No. 2 singles Randy Dudenbostel topped Benito Garza of La Belle, 6-4, 6-2. Stephen Stokes of Naples defeated Dudenbostel in the next match, 6-0, 6-1.
No. 3 singles saw Zak Rabani fall to Damian Coliqueo of Golden Gate. Coliqueo won the first set on a 7-5 tiebreak and won the second set, 6-2.
Lee won his first No. 4 singles match, downing Jeremiah Hagan of Clewiston, 6-4, 6-1. He lost, 6-1, 6-1 to Scott Deveau of Naples.
Greg Hauze of Lely won his first match, 6-1, 6-2, over Tim Fromm of LaBelle, but fell in the second round to Scott Deveau of Naples, 6-1, 6-0.
“Although the score didn’t show it, Greg played well,” Johnson said. “There were a lot of long points and the crowd really got into the match. It has been a tough year in terms of wins, but this team has grown and improved.”
St. John Neumann’s Kelsey McGregor of Marco won her singles match in Class 1A-District 11 play and advanced to the second round on Thursday.


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