Freshman Vasconez leads Bartow girls to region tennis finals; 3 Polk boys teams advance
BARTOW — The Bartow girls tennis team finished as the district runner-up in 2023, made the regional semifinals and returned No. 1 singles player Bhavya Pinapala, but head coach Lindsay Hanger thought her squad had the chance to be even better in 2024.
The Yellow Jackets were bolstered by the addition of two freshmen, including Montserrat Vasconez, who took over at No. 1 to push Pinapala to No. 2 singles. That move made the Yellow Jackets stronger throughout the lineup and has put them one match away from advancing to the state tournament as a team.
County tennis: Winter Haven's Saltman fends off upset bid from Jenkins' Kumria in county tennis finals
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District Tennis: Auburndale boys, Bartow girls win team titles; McKeel's Hutto, Davis qualify for state
After winning the district title last week, Bartow defeated Dade City Pasco, 5-0, on Thursday afternoon in the Class 3A, Region 3 semifinals. Wiregrass Ranch knocked out the Yellow Jackets a year ago and again stands in the Yellow Jackets’ way of a state berth.
Bartow, however, will bring a stronger team into Thursday's rematch. After a regular season in which the Yellow Jackets lost only to McKeel, they advanced to the West County finals at all seven spots, winning at No. 4 with freshman Madison Fedler.
“I thought we had a really good chance going into districts (to win),” Hanger said. “We had a really strong season. We were 12-1 in our regular season, so then just looking at everyone else’s record, I thought we had a good shot. We had a strong team last year, but then we actually had two really strong freshmen come in.”
Vasconez is one of three freshmen girls in Polk County who made an immediate impact on their teams at No. 1 singles, along with Frostproof’s Hannah Windham and Winter Haven’s Sophie Bose. Vasconez is 11-2 and her only losses have been to Bose in the regular season and McKeel’s Jada Hutto in the West County final.
“I had a couple of people tell me that I had a good freshman coming in,” Hanger said. “She's an IB student. Actually she and the other freshmen (Fedler) are both IB students, but I hadn't seen her play before. So I was very pleasantly surprised.”
On Tuesday, she battled back and forth against Pasco’s Kasey Lang and prevailed, 7-5, 7-5.
“That was a very tough match,” Hanger said. “It was a really competitive match. That was definitely the closest match that she's had since counties.”
None of the other singles matches were close. Pinapala defeated Haylie Carter, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 2; Elizabeth Matteson defeated Alissa Doctor, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 3; Fedler defeated Sadie Williams, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 4, and in the first match to finish, Adelyn McLean defeated Micky Owens, 6-1, 6-0.
Vasconez at No. 1 singles and she and Pinapala at No. 1 doubles have already qualified for the state tournament and will try to bring the team with them.
“They won their district but it was pretty close between them and Pasco,” Hanger said. “So I think it'll be a really good competition. We did lose to them last year in regionals, but I think we have a good shot this year.”
George Jenkins, Winter Haven to meet again in region finals
The George Jenkins-Winter Haven boys tennis battles aren’t finished as the two teams will meet for what amounts to the fifth time on Thursday in the regional finals as both squad easily won their 4A-3 regional semifinal matches.
“What an alignment of the stars to make that happen,” Jenkins coach Eric Bright said. “It’s Polk tennis. It’s reaching a high level.”
George Jenkins defeated Lutz George Steinbrenner, 4-1. The teams started with doubles and won both spots. Nico Kumria and Dylan Mitchell won at No. 1 and No. 2 singles respectively, to clinch the match. Prior to the match being clinched, Steinbrenner picked up a win at No. 5 singles.
Winter Haven defeated Tampa Plant, 4-0. The Blue Devils started strong with Ben Saltman and Colin Lopez winning at No. 1 doubles, and Layton Kemp and CJ Chalwe winning a No. 2 doubles.
Saltman and Chalwe, at No. 1 singles and No. 4 singles, clinched the match.
“Watching their kids, they’re a young team and they were good players, but my kids were ready,” Miller said.
Winter Haven and Jenkins met in the regular season, with Jenkins winning 5-2. They would have met in all seven spots at the county finals, but only two matches were played because of prom. They split with Saltman winning at No. 1 and Jenkins Brayden Mitchell winning at No. 4.
At the district tournament, they played in six of the seven finals, with Winter Haven winning four of the six head-to-head matchups. Jenkins finished with champions at three spots. The teams, however, tied and Jenkins won the tiebreaker to earn the district title.
“They’re all matched up pretty close,” Bright said.
Auburndale boys advance to finals
Auburndale took control of the match by winning the first three singles matches to be completed and went on to defeat Longwood Lyman, 4-2.
Winning singles matches for Auburndale, Trevor Petterec defeated Ajay Sastri 6-0,6-0, at No. 3, Angel Guilarte defeated Srinivas Selva 6-2, 6-0 at No. 4, and Chad Williams defeated Jace Wallin 6-1, 6-2, at No. 5. The Bloodhounds got a doubles win at No. 2 as Guilarte and Williams defeated Selva Sastri 4-0, 4-0.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Montserrat Vasconez leads Bartow girls to FHSAA region tennis final
