Prep tennis: Community School boys fall to Out-of-Door in 1A regional semifinal
The Community School of Naples boys tennis team’s perfect season came to an end Tuesday in a Class 1A regional semifinal loss at home to Sarasota's Out-of-Door Academy.
Coming off a clean sweep victory in the 1A-District 10 tournament, the Seahawks entered regionals with a 15-0 record. But like last season, CSN bowed to the Thunder in the regional round, falling 4-1 at home.
“Today, what happened, we ran into a much better tennis team,” CSN coach Mike Baldwin said. “They are a tough school to compete against. No matter what happened, no one can take our perfect regular season and district sweep away from us.”
For a few individual Seahawks, the season will continue at the 1A state tournament in Orlando beginning on Monday. Having won the No. 1 singles title at districts, junior Zach Schiller automatically qualified. The same is true for CSN’s No. 1 doubles team of Sebastian Dounchis and Matt Ferrante, which also won at districts.
In Tuesday’s contest, seven matches were scheduled to be played (five singles and two doubles). The first team to win four advanced to the regional final on Thursday.
It never got to the doubles round as the Thunder won four of five singles matches.
“I’m very pleased with the way we came out and stayed focused,” ODA coach Kieran Killegrew said. “We’ve had a lot of injuries this season. Except for districts, this was the first time we’ve had all of out top five players together.”
The day was not without drama, though. The Thunder led 3-1 with the No. 1 singles match between Schiller and ODA junior Josh Samuel tied at one set apiece and heading into a 10-point tiebreaker.
ODA was in great position with the Krug twins, Connor and Jake, gaining victories in No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively. The eighth-graders are the grandsons of famed ESPN college basketball announcer Dick Vitale.
The Thunder's third victory came from No. 5 singles Matt Jones, who defeated Wes Blabey, 6-1, 7-5. The lone CSN win came from Justin Braverman, who had a 6-1, 7-6 victory over Philip Chiritesou.
If Schiller would have been able to pull out the win over Samuel, then it would have come down to the doubles matches.
With the rest of the singles matches decided, the crowd gathered around for the Schiller/Samuel tiebreaker, which ratcheted up the intensity.
With roars coming with each point, Samuel was able to prevail 10-6 to clinch the day for the Thunder, who will face district rival Bradenton-St. Stephen's in the regional final on Thursday.
“That tiebreaker could have gone either way,” Samuel said. “When the crowd gathered around, I got pretty nervous, actually. I got a few lucky points. Either one of us could have come out with a win.”
Schiller said he also felt some nerves, but it also invigorated him.
“The crowd interest was nice,” he said. “I wanted something like that all season. Even though I lost, that was the best tennis I ever played. It will really help me at states.”