FHSAA state tennis: Lake Nona, Lake Highland join Winter Park phenom in title contention
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS — Winter Park 15-year-old junior Jerald Carroll joined Lake Nona’s undefeated boys and girls teams as state championship contenders with impressive victories on Day 1 of the FHSAA Class 4A state tennis tournament at Sanlando Park.
Carroll, a young 11th-grader who won’t turn 16 until November in his senior year, scored two singles wins and two doubles victories Monday to reach the individual singles championship match — which will likely be played Tuesday pending other results.
“I want to win the whole thing. That’s what I came for,” Carroll said between matches.
Lake Nona’s teams have only one senior in their state-meet lineups but both dominated in first-round wins and set the stage for 8 a.m. semifinal matches.
“We don’t have a lot of experience at this level, but all of our kids stepped up and met the challenge,” Nona coach Tom Beard said.
The Lions’ 2022 boys title team is the only Orlando area public school to win a tennis title since Lake Mary in 1996.
Lake Highland Prep’s youthful boys squad won its quarterfinal 5-2 vs. Aubrey Rogers of Naples to advance to Tuesday’s 2A final four at Red Bug Lake Park in Casselberry. The Highlanders start two eighth-graders and a seventh-grader along with a junior and a freshman.
Winter Park’s boys were ousted by Cypress Bay 4-2 but Carroll still shined with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Sebastian Mendoza and a harder-fought doubles win alongside ninth-grade partner Tristan Brady.
The wins kept that duo in contention for individual honors and the two were victorious again in sun-baked afternoon matches. Carroll beat Lake Nona No. 1 Juan Orta 4-2, 4-1 in a “short sets” singles match and teamed with Brady for a dramatic doubles win against the Lions in individual bracket play.
The Wildcats pulled out the first set 4-2, lost the second 4-1 and came from behind in the 10-point tiebreaker, prevailing 10-6 against Orta and talented sophomore Aiden Phoebus.
“They refocused in the tiebreaker and played great,” Winter Park coach Terri Bentley said.
Carroll didn’t play serious tennis until his family moved from the Bahamas back to Winter Park when he was 12. He had skipped a school year on the islands and opted to enroll in high school a year earlier than he could have. He’s handled the transition seamlessly.
“My goal is to get to the [NCAA] D-1 level and hopefully go pro. I want to get there as fast as possible so I can progress,” Carroll said.
Bentley said area coaches have agreed with her assessment that Carroll “is one of the best talents to come out of Central Florida in quite some time. And he’s such a great kid. He loves his team.”
Lake Nona’s boys blanked Newsome 5-0 with Orta and Phoebus teaming for a No. 1 doubles victory before winning their singles matches. The Lions’ girls prevailed 4-0 with Shrika Moturi scoring a No. 3 singles win after teaming with Aspen Wooten to win the No. 2 doubles slot.
Sohith Tella and Jackson Bates posted singles wins and combined for a doubles victory in Lake Highland’s victory.
In other quarterfinals, Boone’s boys lost to Stoneman Douglas 4-1 in 4A and Bishop Moore’s girls were ousted by MAST Academy 4-1 in 2A.
Bishop Moore’s doubles tandem of Lucas Magro and Calvin Hencken rolled to two wins to advance in 2A individual bracket play at Sylvan Lake Park in Sanford.
The 3A and 1A tournaments open Wednesday, which is the individual finals day for 4A and 2A.
Lake Nona wins FHSAA boys state tennis championship in dramatic fashion
.Varsity Content Editor can be reached by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
