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For a decade plus, Niceville High has been a tennis factory.
Credit the instruction of Brett Beattie and Adam Drysdale at Emerald Coast Tennis Academy, who coach all the varsity girls. Credit the feeder program Ruckel Middle School. Credit the tireless work of coaches Chris Poate and Brian Braziel.
A recent District 1-3A sweep at Fort Walton Beach Tennis Center has the Eagles hopeful about building on that legacy that includes countless district and region titles and a 2014 state crown.
For the defending region champion girls, it was a clean sweep of seven individual district titles to defeat runner-up Gulf Breeze 28-20. For the boys, it was all about the anchor play as No. 3-5 singles spots won district crowns and the No. 2 doubles team secured the 24-23 victory over runner-up Gulf Breeze.
District Baseball Roundup: Niceville, South Walton go wild in championship routs
"Extremely proud of our boys and girls," Poate said. "They set their goals for the season, first of them making regionals. They prepared, competed and kept their focus throughout the season and tournament, and that resulted in their advancement to regionals as district champs. And our girls exceeded their goal by winning every match at districts and advancing to state as the district No. 1 singles and doubles champions."
State bound are Annaliese Drab, who defeated Gulf Breeze's Ella Goodwin 6-3, 7-5 in the No. 1 singles slot, and Drab and Eleanor Randolph in the No. 1 doubles slot after a straight-set win over Gulf Breeze.
Straight sets would be the theme for the Eagles, who had Audrey Hill conquer the No. 2 singles title, Randolph the No. 3 crown, Callie Delemarre the No. 4 championship, Aspen Baker the No. 5 trophy and Hill and Delemarre in the No. 2 doubles role. The girls remain unbeaten in Florida with their lone loss coming in Mobile, Alabama.
The Niceville boys, meanwhile, had to sweat out their team title.
With Crestview's Tristan Cooley dominating the No. 1 singles slot to shore up his trip to state and Niceville's Andrew Roberts finishing runner-up in the No. 2 singles slot, the Eagles made up ground down the lineup.
Going 3-0 versus Gulf Breeze in the Nos. 3-5 slots, Niceville's Cole Hawkins, Sean Wingenbach and Ben Converse dispatched of their opponents in straight sets for individual district crowns. Hawkins and Noah Stickler also won in straights for the No. 2 doubles crown, their four district titles to Gulf Breeze's two proving to be the difference.
Also celebrating a team district crown were the Fort Walton Beach girls, who bested runner-up North Bay Haven 17-10 in the District 1-2A tournament on the back of two singles titles and a doubles crown. Katie Eubanks won the No. 4 singles title and teamed with Kinley Driver for the No. 2 doubles title, and Gigi Biro won the No. 5 district title singles championship. Reese Armstrong and Penelope Gordon, the Nos. 1 and 2 players for FWB who also are students at ECT Academy, finished runner-up in their singles draws and in the No. 1 doubles draw.
As for the next round, the region semifinals, the Fort Walton Beach girls hosts Suwannee Tuesday at 3 p.m. at FWB Tennis Center. The Niceville girls and boys both host Leon at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Niceville.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Niceville, FWB tennis shine at districts
Continue reading...
Credit the instruction of Brett Beattie and Adam Drysdale at Emerald Coast Tennis Academy, who coach all the varsity girls. Credit the feeder program Ruckel Middle School. Credit the tireless work of coaches Chris Poate and Brian Braziel.
A recent District 1-3A sweep at Fort Walton Beach Tennis Center has the Eagles hopeful about building on that legacy that includes countless district and region titles and a 2014 state crown.
For the defending region champion girls, it was a clean sweep of seven individual district titles to defeat runner-up Gulf Breeze 28-20. For the boys, it was all about the anchor play as No. 3-5 singles spots won district crowns and the No. 2 doubles team secured the 24-23 victory over runner-up Gulf Breeze.
District Baseball Roundup: Niceville, South Walton go wild in championship routs
"Extremely proud of our boys and girls," Poate said. "They set their goals for the season, first of them making regionals. They prepared, competed and kept their focus throughout the season and tournament, and that resulted in their advancement to regionals as district champs. And our girls exceeded their goal by winning every match at districts and advancing to state as the district No. 1 singles and doubles champions."
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State bound are Annaliese Drab, who defeated Gulf Breeze's Ella Goodwin 6-3, 7-5 in the No. 1 singles slot, and Drab and Eleanor Randolph in the No. 1 doubles slot after a straight-set win over Gulf Breeze.
Straight sets would be the theme for the Eagles, who had Audrey Hill conquer the No. 2 singles title, Randolph the No. 3 crown, Callie Delemarre the No. 4 championship, Aspen Baker the No. 5 trophy and Hill and Delemarre in the No. 2 doubles role. The girls remain unbeaten in Florida with their lone loss coming in Mobile, Alabama.
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The Niceville boys, meanwhile, had to sweat out their team title.
With Crestview's Tristan Cooley dominating the No. 1 singles slot to shore up his trip to state and Niceville's Andrew Roberts finishing runner-up in the No. 2 singles slot, the Eagles made up ground down the lineup.
Going 3-0 versus Gulf Breeze in the Nos. 3-5 slots, Niceville's Cole Hawkins, Sean Wingenbach and Ben Converse dispatched of their opponents in straight sets for individual district crowns. Hawkins and Noah Stickler also won in straights for the No. 2 doubles crown, their four district titles to Gulf Breeze's two proving to be the difference.
Also celebrating a team district crown were the Fort Walton Beach girls, who bested runner-up North Bay Haven 17-10 in the District 1-2A tournament on the back of two singles titles and a doubles crown. Katie Eubanks won the No. 4 singles title and teamed with Kinley Driver for the No. 2 doubles title, and Gigi Biro won the No. 5 district title singles championship. Reese Armstrong and Penelope Gordon, the Nos. 1 and 2 players for FWB who also are students at ECT Academy, finished runner-up in their singles draws and in the No. 1 doubles draw.
As for the next round, the region semifinals, the Fort Walton Beach girls hosts Suwannee Tuesday at 3 p.m. at FWB Tennis Center. The Niceville girls and boys both host Leon at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Niceville.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Niceville, FWB tennis shine at districts
Continue reading...
