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Storm, Lady Horns are favorites

Sports

Friday, 24 February 2012 14:42

News-Gazette Photo/Andrew Sullivan

Osceola’s No. 1 player, senior Paul Gursky, will challenge for the district championship.

County tennis squads move to new districts
By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
Celebration won the boys and girls Orange Belt Conference championships last season.
The Storm boys, with four starters back, are in a good position to defend their title, but the Lady Storm will have an inexperienced lineup.

Harmony’s Lady Longhorns could be the team to beat in the OBC this season.
Celebration, Osceola, Harmony and St. Cloud are in new District 3A-8 with strong east coast teams Bayside, Eau Gallie, Melbourne, Palm Bay and Sebastian River.
Gateway and Liberty play in competitive District 4A-3 against Colonial, Cypress Creek, Freedom, University, Winter Park and Timber Creek.
Poinciana plays in District 2A-7 with seven teams from Polk and Hardee counties.
Celebration
The defending conference champs will be strong again under Coach Bob Tripp with four of last year’s top five returning.
Back are Richard Cruz, Jacob Glodde, Luis Penagos and Ben Sunnarborg. Cruz, a junior, was an all-county selection last season.
“Those four should give Celebration a strong showing in the OBC and district,” he said.
Dan Cruz, Lucas Castro, Alejandro Hernandez and Joseph Stans all are experienced and offer quality depth.
“We should be competitive in the OBC and probably will be third or fourth in the district unless there are some surprises like last year,” he said.
Richard Cruz, Penagos, Glodde and Dan Cruz all won their season-opening matches against Palm Bay, a 6-1 Storm win.
The Storm, 3-1, beat Liberty, 6-0, Tuesday as Richard Cruz, Penagos, Dante Cruz, Hernandez and Sunnarborg collected singles wins.
The Lady Storm has eight players, all beginners, Tripp said.
They include Natta Verduga, Sydney Lowell, Leslie Leon, Jaqueline Cole and Darylian Nazario.
St. Cloud
Coach Dallas Kelsey’s boys team returns the county’s player of the year, Trevor Foshey, a sophomore, who won the district championship last year and reached the Class 3A state tournament.
Returning with Foshey are senior Zach Hull and juniors Ryan Bender and Steven Gonzalez.
German transfer student Mats Wucherspenning will play No. 2, Kelsey said.
Also competing are Caleb Sibley, Dillon Moore, Carlos Martinez, Kevin Rivera, Casey Reno and Nathan Robinson.
Coach Tim McMullen’s girls team lost last year’s player of the year, Amanda Pence, to graduation.
Returning to lead the team is Haley Glasscock and Jessica Sumner.
Osceola
The Kowboys, in their second season under Coach Tom Glaser, have one of the area’s top players in senior Paul Gursky, a former county player of the year.
The team also will be strengthened by the arrival of transfer student Eduardo Colon.
The starting five also includes Johnathan Gonzalez, Steven Shapiro and Zach Keppler.
Keven Remigio, Justin Wayman and Pedro Diaz also should see court time.
Coach Emily Glaser begins her second season as the Lady Kowboys coach.
The roster includes seniors Kristen Ackley, Kristina Alvarez and Kimber Berry; juniors Brooke Dunwoody, Savanna Escobar, Destiny Garcia, Jasmine Greene, Kaisy Ovalles and Katie Pedone; sophomore Jazzmine Williams and freshmen Katarina Chashin and Daniella Fortich.
The Lady Kowboys are 1-3.
Harmony
Coach Jerry Piester’s Lady Longhorns are led by junior Lauren Grego, who moves up to No. 1 after playing No. 3 last season.
Junior Addison Hickey moves from No. 4 to No. 2 and Adreinne Roberts moves to No. 3.
Senior Brianna Stacey steps up to No. 4 and sophomore Olivia Porter is No. 5.
Also returning is Sarah Schwing, who plays doubles.
Newcomers include Sheree Brunson, Andrea Juron, Stephanie Simandl, Kylie Wetzel, Samantha Kulick, Haili Pierson and Brana Olarte.
The team is unbeaten in the OBC after victories against Osceola and Liberty last week. It won its season opener against Merritt Island Christian, 6-1, and it defeated Palm Bay, 7-0.
Coach Ann Tarpley Moss takes over the boys program, led by captain Broderick Hicks.
Also competing are Tanner Mabry, Ben Quasney, Zak Andrews, Jackson Tarpley, Travis Carter, Jonathan Mwakyanjala, Dalton Blanchard and Chris Adams.
Gateway
Coach Aaron Foley’s boys team returns all of its starters, led by No. 1 player Tony Origer and No. 2 Jerry Satayarekha.
“They hope to lead Gateway to the OBC title this year,” Foley said.
The Lady Panthers return four of five starters, led by No. 1 Amy Lamb.
“The girls team hopes to improve on their season last year and compete for the OBC title,” Foley said.
Poinciana
Coach Troy Herrera begins his second season with the Lady Eagles.
Leading the roster is all-county selection Jacqueline Renteria.
Also competing for the Lady Eagles are Estefany Abastida, Melissa Burset, Nathally DeVasconcelos, Catherine Liberal, Alyssa Maldonado, Breishka Neris, Alondra Sanchez, Rachel Slade, andSahara Sucre.
Coach Ricardo Catala’s boys team includes seniors Clark Feeney and Daniel Salas, and junior Steven Holt.
Liberty
Coach William Kuehnel will lead the Chargers.
Adawale King, a senior, is the No. 1 singles player and a potential scholarship winner, Kuehnel said.
“He was very strong as a junior and has nowhere to go but up,” Kuehnel said.
Senior Kevin Gomez will play No. 2, junior Oneil McLeod plays No. 3, senior Julian Bolivar is No. 4 and Ju’Von Nathan, a junior, competes at No. 5.
“Oneil has a lot of potential, his skills have doubled since last season,” Kuehnel said. “Ju’Von has a wealth of potential. He did not get much playing time last year but will start every game this season.”
Christian Perez-Soto, a junior, also will see action.
Coach Dai Bacon begins her first season with the Liberty girls, who include senior Lorianne Quijana-Nieves, Joline Desruisseaux, Rachel Oramas, Rebecca Phillippe, Estrella Rivera-Ruiz and Antonella Scarpati.
Also on the roster are Bianca Anicette, Karishma Mahelal, Rubi Martinez, Ashley Montanez, Brittany Payne and Alexandra Sutherland.
“We have a young team and are in the building stage of our program,” Bacon said. “You will see great things to come in the tennis program here at Liberty.”
New Dimensions
Coach Ralph Barrett returns for his second season with a young team.
“We have a few girls who picked up a racquet for the first time a couple of weeks ago, but they are learning and having some fun, and that’s what’s important,” he said.
Barrett said he is proud of his athletes’ friendly disposition on the courts.
“Teaching how to be a good sport is one of the most important aspects of coaching,” he said.
Senior Jesse Maldonado, one of the school’s best athletes, Barrett said, will compete along with returning players Josi Vega and Shantel Hernandez, both sophomores. Freshman Isabella Martinez will play singles.
New players include sophomores Shareem Santiago and Tatianna Laboy, and freshmen Isabella Martinez and Loraine Montes.
The Lady Tigers beat Poinciana, 4-3, Wednesday, to even their record at 1-1. Both doubles teams won to clinch the win.