George Jenkins boys tennis takes district title after bizarre ending vs. Winter Haven
LAKELAND — George Jenkins led Winter Haven, 3-2, in the tiebreaker match to determine the district boys tennis champion, and yet the end was anticlimactic.
Winter Haven’s Layton Kemp was unable to continue in doubles because of a severe blister on his foot, so the Blue Devils, needing both double spots to win the match, forfeited to hand the Class 4A, District 6 title to Jenkins.
The district title is the first in 10 years for George Jenkins.
“It’s been awhile for us,” coach Eric Bright said. “It feels good to win the county side of it for the west (last week) and for the district. They've been working hard for the past two seasons. We came close last year and finished second, and this year we landed first.”
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Jenkins won the first two singles matches that finished with Brandon Mitchell defeating CJ Chalwe, 8-3, at No. 3 singles. Dylan Mitchell followed by defeating Colin Lopez, 8-4, at No. 2.
Ben Saltman got Winter Haven back in the match by defeating Nico Kumria in a tight match, 8-6, then Mac Kranzler outlasted Luke Siyufy, 8-6, at No. 5 singles to even the match.
Winter Haven was close to getting the advantage as Kemp led Logan Bright, 6-5 and was serving to go up 7-5. Bright held of game point, forced multiple deuces before finally winning the game. He went on to win, 8-6.
“It was a heck of a battle,” Winter Haven coach Pat Miller said. “George Jenkins has a heck of a team. They’re all very young. There whole team will be back. My only two seniors are Colin Lopez and Mac Kranzler, and they had a heck of a year this season.”
In a testament on how close the two teams are, only Saltman and Brandon Mitchell repeated their wins from Wednesday's district finals matches, although Mitchell didn't play Chalwe in the final.
Both George Jenkins and Winter Haven advance to the regional semifinals on Tuesday. Jenkins will play George Steinbrenner at home, and Winter Haven will play at Tampa Plant. Both matches start at 3 p.m.
Thursday's tiebreaker match was needed after Winter Haven and George Jenkins tied after the 42 matches of the district tournament on Wednesday.
Winter Haven and Jenkins met in six of the seven positions, with Winter Haven winning at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 singles and No. 1 doubles. Jenkins won the final two singles spots and No. 3 doubles. Winter Haven didn’t reach the finals at No. 4 singles, which allowed Jenkins to make up the difference in individual titles.
“It was exciting,” Winter Haven coach Pat Miller said. “There was a lot of great tennis.”
Although the team titles wasn’t decided postseason and state berths were won. Saltman defeated Nico, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 1 singles to earn an automatic state berth. Saltman and Colin Lopez won the tiebreaker over Kumria and Dylan Mitchell to earn a state berth at No. 1 doubles. The Winter Haven duo dropped the first set but rallied to win the second set and tiebreaker.
“It was a heck of a match,” Miller said. “I enjoyed just watching it. Winning nor losing, I enjoyed just watching it.”
In the other district finals, Winter Haven’s Colin Lopez defeated Dylan Mitchell, 1-6, 6-4 (10-6), at No. 2, and Kemp defeated Bright, 1-6, 7-6 (7-2) (10-8) at No. 3.
“For a sophomore, he played really well,” Miller said. “Layton is coming along. He’s going to to be a fantastic player. He’s an athlete.”
For George Jenkins, Braydon Mitchell defeated Celebration’s Spencer Sterry, 6-0, 6-2 at No. 4. Sterry had upset Winter Haven’s CJ Chalwe, the No. 2 seed, in the semifinals, 3-6, 6-2 (11-9). Siyufy defeated Kranzler at No. 5, and Bright and Mitchell defeated Kemp and Chalwe at No. 2 doubles.
“It was close, coming down to the wire with the way they all were playing,” Jenkins coach Eric Bright said. “It was a really good tournament overall. For the Jenkins boys, there were one or two close matches that didn’t go the right way.”
Winter Haven girls finish district runner-up
The girls tournament was settled with Celebration dominating to win the district title. Winter Haven will advance to the postseason as runner-up.
Celebration won all the finals. In singles, Valeria Lopez defeated Winter Haven’s Sophie Bose, 6-0, 6-1; Diana Perez defeated George Jenkins’ Amber Klaber, 6-0, 6-1; Gabriella Castro defeated George Jenkins’ Juliet Davila, Naiya Beaumont defeated Winter Haven’s Olivia Zinsmeister, 6-0 6-0, and Alexia Perez defeated Winter Haven’s Malaeah Dean, 6-4, 6-0. Dean reached the final by upsetting No. 2 seed Rachel Denver of George Jenkins, 6-4, 6-1.
In doubles, Lopez and Munoz, defeated Bose and Presley Odom, 6-2, 6-4, and Beaumont and Perez defeated Nichols and Zinsmeister.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: George Jenkins wins FHSAA 4A district title after default in tiebreaker
