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LAKELAND — McKeel senior Jada Hutto has been playing tennis for 11 years and has been on the varsity tennis team for six years. When her high school senior is over, she’s putting down her racket for good.
Before that happens, however, Hutto wants to go out big, and she hit the trifecta on Tuesday morning.
Hutto defeated King’s Usoolisa Mba, 6-3, 6-3, in the No. 1 singles finals of the Class 2A, District 8 to give her third consecutive district title at No.1 singles. With the victory, Hutto also qualified for the state tournament as an individual.
“I'm definitely excited,” Hutto said. Senior year is probably my motivation. I want to go as far as I can, and this is just another step for states.”
Hutto will have the chance to play with her team at the state tournament as she led the Wildcats to the team title with 19 points. Holy Names was second with 15 points. McKeel needs two wins in regionals to qualify as a team.
Hutto was on McKeel’s state runner-up team as an eighth-grader at No. 3 singles and also played in the state tournament as a freshman at No. 3 then went on to win three straight district titles at No. 1. Last season was the first time she played in the state tournament without the entire team. She also played at No. 1 doubles last year at state with Briley Davis.
In addition to improving her serve this season, Hutto came into the season with a different mindset than previous seasons, knowing this is her final year of competitive tennis.
“Just having fun,” she said. “ I used to be super, super competitive. I still am, but it's all about keeping fun in the game.”
In the singles final against Mba, Hutto was in control for most of the match. She took the lead by a couple of games in the first set and held on. In the second set, the match was back and forth early as the score was 3-3 before Hutto won three straight to clinch the match.
“I watched her match yesterday when she played in semis and she was a great player,” Hutto said. “I was really excited to play. Her strokes are really strong. Her serves are also great, so I think I just had to keep her moving and keep my momentum up.”
Girls Tennis: County girls tennis: Healthy again, Auburndale's Battilla reclaims title at No. 1 singles
Boys Tennis: Kumria regains county title at No. 1 singles as George Jenkins sweeps in overall finals
Hutto never had plans to play college tennis. After the season is over, she’ll be ready for a new chapter as she heads off to UCF where she’ll major in political science with plans to go to law school and become a lawyer. But her tennis career isn’t over as she still has matches to play at regionals and state.
“I want to go out with a bang,” she said.
In the team competition, McKeel clinched the girls title before the doubles finals were played.
With one singles match left on the court, McKeel regained the team title when Ciara Smith won at No. 3 singles. In one of the most dramatic matches of the day, Smith defeated Holy Names’ Carolina Ward, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 1-0 (10-6).
Smith’ victory gave McKeel four individual singles champions. At No. 2, Briley Davis withstood a strong challenge from Holy Names’ Caroline Carr and prevailed 6-4, 6-3. At Leia Johnson defeated Holy Names’ Emma Hodgdon, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 4.
In doubles competition, Hutto and Davis qualified for state at No. 1 by defeating Holy Names’ Ashleigh Carpenter and Carr, 6-1, 6-0.
The McKeel boys also won team title along with the No. 1 singles title. In the team competition, the Wildcats finished with 18 points. Middleton was second with 15 points.
McKeel’s Devin Twiss clinched a state berth by defeating Chamberlain’s Jaydan Pretorius, 6-2, 2-6, 1-0. Keith Kopp defeated Middleton’s Sreeker Yandapalli, 6-0, 6-1, at No. 2, and Tanner Hammer defeated Middleton’s Tharun Venkataraman, 5-7, 7-5, 10-4 at No. 5.
Twiss and Keith Kopp won at No. 1 doubles.
Auburndale junior McKenna Battilla is retiring to the state tournament where she was a state semifinalist as a freshman. Battilla defeated Sebring’s Ava Church, 6-1, 6-0, in the No. 1 singles final.
Battilla also will play doubles at state as she and Sophia Mulling defeated Sebring’s Church and Lackey.
It’s not the first time that a Battilla-Mulling combination will at the state tournament as their older sisters, Peyton Battilla and Madison Mulling, teamed up in 2021, to win the No. 1 doubles title at districts and advance to state.
That was the only thing settled for Polk teams.
In the girls team competition, Lake Wales and Sebring tied and will meet in a tiebreaker match.
Lake Wales’ Gracie Berkau won at No. 3 singles, and Molly Lewis won at No. 5 singles.
In the boys team competition, Auburndale and Lakeland tied and will play at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Lakeland’s Zachary Kossen defeated Auburndale’s Kyle Fox, 6-2, 2-6, 10-5, at No. 1 singles, and Lakeland Mathew Fuentes defeated Sebring’s Liam Helmes, 3-6, 6-2, 10-5 at No. 3. Kossen and Fuentes also won at No. 1 doubles, and
For Auburndale, Bayden Williams defeated Lakeland’ James Maska, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 3, Angel Guilarte defeated Lakeland’s Tanner Billich, 6-0, retired, at No. 4, and Trevor Petterec defeated Sebring’s Aaron Williams, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 5.
In a repeat of last season, Winter Haven won at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles at the district meet but tied George Jenkins to force a playoff on Wednesday.
Ben Saltman, who missed the county tournament, defeated George Jenkins Nico Kumria, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 1 singles to qualify for the state tournament. He also teamed with Wiley Simpson to defeat Kumria and Mitchell, 6-0 6-2 at No. 1 doubles. Last year, Saltman played doubles at state with Colin Lopez, who is now at Harvard.
Winter Haven also won three more singles titles. Simpson defeated Dylan Mitchell, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 2, Layton Kemp defeated George Jenkins’ Logan Bright, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 3, and E Whitehead defeated George Jenkins’ Luke Siyufy, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 5.
George Jenkins, which is 30-0 in the regular season over the past two seasons, won at No. 4 as Brayden Mitchell defeated Celebration’s Daniel Henriquez, 6-3, 6-3, and Brayden Mitchell and Bright won at No. 2 doubles.
Playing in a stronger district this season didn’t bother the Bartow girls. The Yellow Jackets finished with 22 points to win the team competition with George Jenkins finishing runner-up.
Bartow won three singles title and 1 doubles title.
Bhavya Pinapala defeated George Jenkins’ Layla Lopez, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 3, Liz Matteson, the No. 2 seed, defeated top-seeded Juliet Davila from George Jenkins, 6-3, 2-6, 10-8, at No. 4, and Hailey Turturro defeated George Jenkins’ Naomi Ash, 6-0, 6-1.
Matteson and Madison Fedler won at No. 2 doubles.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Tennis: Hutto's 3-peat leads McKeel girls to team district title
Continue reading...
Before that happens, however, Hutto wants to go out big, and she hit the trifecta on Tuesday morning.
Hutto defeated King’s Usoolisa Mba, 6-3, 6-3, in the No. 1 singles finals of the Class 2A, District 8 to give her third consecutive district title at No.1 singles. With the victory, Hutto also qualified for the state tournament as an individual.
“I'm definitely excited,” Hutto said. Senior year is probably my motivation. I want to go as far as I can, and this is just another step for states.”
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Hutto will have the chance to play with her team at the state tournament as she led the Wildcats to the team title with 19 points. Holy Names was second with 15 points. McKeel needs two wins in regionals to qualify as a team.
Hutto was on McKeel’s state runner-up team as an eighth-grader at No. 3 singles and also played in the state tournament as a freshman at No. 3 then went on to win three straight district titles at No. 1. Last season was the first time she played in the state tournament without the entire team. She also played at No. 1 doubles last year at state with Briley Davis.
In addition to improving her serve this season, Hutto came into the season with a different mindset than previous seasons, knowing this is her final year of competitive tennis.
“Just having fun,” she said. “ I used to be super, super competitive. I still am, but it's all about keeping fun in the game.”
In the singles final against Mba, Hutto was in control for most of the match. She took the lead by a couple of games in the first set and held on. In the second set, the match was back and forth early as the score was 3-3 before Hutto won three straight to clinch the match.
“I watched her match yesterday when she played in semis and she was a great player,” Hutto said. “I was really excited to play. Her strokes are really strong. Her serves are also great, so I think I just had to keep her moving and keep my momentum up.”
Girls Tennis: County girls tennis: Healthy again, Auburndale's Battilla reclaims title at No. 1 singles
Boys Tennis: Kumria regains county title at No. 1 singles as George Jenkins sweeps in overall finals
You must be registered for see images attach
Hutto never had plans to play college tennis. After the season is over, she’ll be ready for a new chapter as she heads off to UCF where she’ll major in political science with plans to go to law school and become a lawyer. But her tennis career isn’t over as she still has matches to play at regionals and state.
“I want to go out with a bang,” she said.
In the team competition, McKeel clinched the girls title before the doubles finals were played.
With one singles match left on the court, McKeel regained the team title when Ciara Smith won at No. 3 singles. In one of the most dramatic matches of the day, Smith defeated Holy Names’ Carolina Ward, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 1-0 (10-6).
Smith’ victory gave McKeel four individual singles champions. At No. 2, Briley Davis withstood a strong challenge from Holy Names’ Caroline Carr and prevailed 6-4, 6-3. At Leia Johnson defeated Holy Names’ Emma Hodgdon, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 4.
In doubles competition, Hutto and Davis qualified for state at No. 1 by defeating Holy Names’ Ashleigh Carpenter and Carr, 6-1, 6-0.
The McKeel boys also won team title along with the No. 1 singles title. In the team competition, the Wildcats finished with 18 points. Middleton was second with 15 points.
McKeel’s Devin Twiss clinched a state berth by defeating Chamberlain’s Jaydan Pretorius, 6-2, 2-6, 1-0. Keith Kopp defeated Middleton’s Sreeker Yandapalli, 6-0, 6-1, at No. 2, and Tanner Hammer defeated Middleton’s Tharun Venkataraman, 5-7, 7-5, 10-4 at No. 5.
Twiss and Keith Kopp won at No. 1 doubles.
3A-7: Battilla, Mulling qualify for state; team titles up for grabs
Auburndale junior McKenna Battilla is retiring to the state tournament where she was a state semifinalist as a freshman. Battilla defeated Sebring’s Ava Church, 6-1, 6-0, in the No. 1 singles final.
Battilla also will play doubles at state as she and Sophia Mulling defeated Sebring’s Church and Lackey.
It’s not the first time that a Battilla-Mulling combination will at the state tournament as their older sisters, Peyton Battilla and Madison Mulling, teamed up in 2021, to win the No. 1 doubles title at districts and advance to state.
That was the only thing settled for Polk teams.
In the girls team competition, Lake Wales and Sebring tied and will meet in a tiebreaker match.
Lake Wales’ Gracie Berkau won at No. 3 singles, and Molly Lewis won at No. 5 singles.
In the boys team competition, Auburndale and Lakeland tied and will play at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Lakeland’s Zachary Kossen defeated Auburndale’s Kyle Fox, 6-2, 2-6, 10-5, at No. 1 singles, and Lakeland Mathew Fuentes defeated Sebring’s Liam Helmes, 3-6, 6-2, 10-5 at No. 3. Kossen and Fuentes also won at No. 1 doubles, and
For Auburndale, Bayden Williams defeated Lakeland’ James Maska, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 3, Angel Guilarte defeated Lakeland’s Tanner Billich, 6-0, retired, at No. 4, and Trevor Petterec defeated Sebring’s Aaron Williams, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 5.
4A-7 Boys: Saltman wins at No. 1; Winter Haven-Jenkins will duel in playoff
In a repeat of last season, Winter Haven won at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles at the district meet but tied George Jenkins to force a playoff on Wednesday.
Ben Saltman, who missed the county tournament, defeated George Jenkins Nico Kumria, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 1 singles to qualify for the state tournament. He also teamed with Wiley Simpson to defeat Kumria and Mitchell, 6-0 6-2 at No. 1 doubles. Last year, Saltman played doubles at state with Colin Lopez, who is now at Harvard.
Winter Haven also won three more singles titles. Simpson defeated Dylan Mitchell, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 2, Layton Kemp defeated George Jenkins’ Logan Bright, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 3, and E Whitehead defeated George Jenkins’ Luke Siyufy, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 5.
George Jenkins, which is 30-0 in the regular season over the past two seasons, won at No. 4 as Brayden Mitchell defeated Celebration’s Daniel Henriquez, 6-3, 6-3, and Brayden Mitchell and Bright won at No. 2 doubles.
4A-7 Girls: Bartow girls repeat as district champions
Playing in a stronger district this season didn’t bother the Bartow girls. The Yellow Jackets finished with 22 points to win the team competition with George Jenkins finishing runner-up.
Bartow won three singles title and 1 doubles title.
Bhavya Pinapala defeated George Jenkins’ Layla Lopez, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 3, Liz Matteson, the No. 2 seed, defeated top-seeded Juliet Davila from George Jenkins, 6-3, 2-6, 10-8, at No. 4, and Hailey Turturro defeated George Jenkins’ Naomi Ash, 6-0, 6-1.
Matteson and Madison Fedler won at No. 2 doubles.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Tennis: Hutto's 3-peat leads McKeel girls to team district title
Continue reading...
