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Storm standouts Juan Jimenez and Valeria Lopez are the 2023 Osceola News Gazette’s Tennis Players of the Year. PHOTOS/CELEBRATION H.S. -
Storm standouts Juan Jimenez and Valeria Lopez are the 2023 Osceola News Gazette’s Tennis Players of the Year. PHOTOS/CELEBRATION H.S.
When it comes to the sport of tennis in Osceola County, Celebration High School stands apart from the rest of the county.
The Storm dominated the Osceola News Gazette’s All-County Team with nine total selections. The Storm also sweep Player of the Year and Coach of the Year honors for the 2023 season.
Collectively, Celebration boys and girls teams went 14-0 against county opposition—winning 91 of 94 sets in the process. Both teams went undefeated in regular season district play and combined for an overall record of 25-6.
The Storm place all five of their top boys’ players on the OBC team, led by Player of the Year Juan Jimenez. Playing out of the Storm’s No. 1 line, Jimenez went undefeated in the county and eventually qualified for the state tournament.
He’s joined on the All-County squad by teammates Owen Wheelock, Alex Kim, Cayman Pearce and Aiden Dai. As with Jimenez, those four players all went undefeated against county opposition. Lining up normally in No. 4 spot, Pearce also saw action on the first, second and third lines—going 13-3 overall. He was also 4-0 in doubles competition. Pearce and Wheelock captured district titles.
Joining the five Storm players on the All-County team were Gateway’s Gabriel Chin and Juan Cie and Tohopekaliga’s Bryson Morency. Chin and Cie each went 6-1 against county opposition. Gateway had a solid season, going 8-5 overall and winning 46 of 56 sets in county play.
Morency went 5-5 as Tohopekaliga’s number one player—making it to the District semifinals. Celebration’s Jeremiah Schwartz is the Boys Coach of the Year, as he guided the Storm to its fifth consecutive Orange Belt Conference team championship.
Celebration also dominated the girls all-county team with four selections as they went 12-3 overall, 7-0 in both district and county play and won 47 of 49 sets against Osceola County schools.
Player of the Year Valeria Lopez and Samantha Altamiranda led the way for the Lady Storm. Both went undefeated against county opposition in singles competition at No.1 and 2, and both ended up advancing to the state tournament. A pair of juniors, Lopez and Altamiranda went 9-0 in the regular season as the Storm’s top doubles team.
Joining that duo on the ONG All-County team was Gabriella Castro (6-1 singles vs. county on Line 3) and Claire Ziemba (6-0 against county opposition in singles and doubles).
They are joined on the All-ONG team by Osceola’s Karla Gomez (8-4 singles), Gateway’s Anaila Cooks (6-0 at No. 2 singles, regional champion), Harmony’s Gaby Alvarado (10-3 overall) and Bri White (11-2 overall).
Celebration’s Rachael Holt, who led the Storm to a second straight OBC title, earned Coach of the Year. Overall, the Lady Storm have won seven of the last nine OBC Championships. Celebration’s dominance could last at least one more year, as seven of the Storm’s nine All-County selections are underclassmen.
