Two Nature Coast tennis teams partook in Class 2A, Region 4 finals on Thursday afternoon, but only one walked away with a regional championship.
The Lady Sharks (16-1) captured four of the five singles matches, taking care of Tarpon Springs at Delta Woods Park, 4-1, to earn a trip to the FHSAA Finals starting next Wednesday in Orlando. It’s their first time going to states since 2009.
“It’s very exciting. I was not knowing what to expect, but the girls are so thrilled,” Nature Coast girls coach Kristine Brown said. “Today they definitely started and were ready to play. Within the first 15 minutes, everybody was up. They started out ready to play today, for sure.”
Brown was particularly impressed with Nicole Remedio’s performance at No. 2 singles, calling it the best match she has seen the junior play as Remedio won 6-1, 6-1 over Clivonya Woodside.
Mackenzie Vraspir also had a straight set win at No. 4, 6-4, 7-5 against Olivia Stokely. Angela Cabahug topped Candice Woodruff at No. 1, 6-2, 4-6, 10-7, and Beatrice Roseus earned a 6-1, 2-6, 10-6 nod over Jill Foster at No. 5.
The Lady Spongers posted their lone victory at No. 3, Cali Quaglia besting Sierra Remondelli, 7-5, 6-4.
“None of these girls have ever been to states, so they don’t know what to expect,” Brown said. “They’re saying they’re ready to go, they want to play their hardest and they told me they’ll play every match like they can win. I think it’s going to be a great experience for them.
“I don’t have a senior, so their goal is to win the region again next year. It’ll be a great experience to see what states is like.”
In Tuesday’s semifinal, Nature Coast knocked off Fivay at Delta Woods, 4-3. Remedio beat Torrie Berryhill at No. 2, 6-2, 6-3, and Vraspir topped Carol York at No. 4, 6-2, 6-3.
The Lady Sharks rallied to take the match by winning both doubles contests, Cabahug and Remedio defeating Kirbea Harrell and Berryhill at No. 1, 6-1, 4-6, 10-2, and Remondelli and Vraspir combining for a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win over Nancy Hasemeir and York.
Meanwhile the boys, who played at the school’s courts, thumped Hudson on Tuesday, 6-1. Hunter Schwefringhaus captured the most competitive matchup at No. 1, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-6 over Mark Calleja.
Alec Priede beat Phillip Waitkevich at No. 3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, Carter McNamara did the same to Jeff Maksymkow at No. 4, 6-1, 6-0, and Mark Cabahug added a 6-3, 6-3 win over Reggie Parks at No. 5.
At No. 1 doubles, Schwefringhaus and Roger Sniffen topped Calleja and Mikey Bacon, 7-5, 6-4, and Cabahug teamed with Braydon Hotchkiss to defeat Waitkevich and Parks at No. 2, 6-3, 6-3.
The Sharks (11-6) ran into a stumbling block on Thursday, though, falling 4-2 to Crystal River. Despite finishing second to Nature Coast in the district tournament last week, the Pirates had won the lone regular-season meeting between the teams and took three out of four head-to-head matchups in the district finals.
The Pirates grabbed control early by capturing the first three singles matches that were completed. That included Andrew Allen winning at No. 2 over Sniffen, 6-3, 6-1, after Sniffen had beat Allen for the district crown.
Trent Stukes took his district championship rematch with McNamara at No. 4, repeating his previous victory with a 6-0, 6-3 triumph. At No. 1, Ryan Grant topped Schwefringhaus, 6-3, 6-4.
In another reversal from the district finals, Priede upended Spencer Parker at No. 3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, keeping the Sharks temporarily alive.
But the Pirates had an unlikely hero seal the deal, as freshman Josh Reynolds collected a 0-6, 6-2, 10-8 win over Cabahug at No. 5, and got mobbed by his teammates afterward.
Since the match had already been going on for some time, the No. 1 doubles continued, with Schwefringhaus and Sniffen downing Grant and Allen, 6-2, 7-6 (7-0).
“I thought we came out a little bit flat with singles,” Nature Coast boys coach Tom Brown said. “I guess they had some momentum coming off the tiebreaker wins (in Tuesday’s semifinal) and had a little bit of momentum and confidence, really. And they did beat us 4-3 during the season, so there was nothing that we were going to do that would surprise them. Dug a couple holes and then it was close matches.
“When I was coming into this match, I was really thinking there was six matches that could go either way. It comes down to who plays better that day.”
It was still hard for Brown to feel too disappointed, considering he was unsure how his relatively inexperienced squad would compete in the district.
“To be real honest, winning the district title was way beyond my expectations,” Brown said. “It would have been nice to go to states, but these guys performed pretty well. We’ll definitely be back next year as a better team.
“When you get used to playing matches where they mean something; this is definitely a match that meant something. If you have something to fall back on experience-wise, it’s pretty big.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.