UMS-Wright, Vestavia Hills Sweep State Tennis Titles
Class 4A UMS-Wright of Mobile and Class 6A Vestavia Hills swept both the girls’ and boys’ state tennis championships Friday, the 4A tournament at Montgomery’s Lagoon Park and the 6A event at Mobile’s Copeland-Cox Tennis Center.
UMS-Wright’s boys and girls each won for the fifth straight year in 4A while the Vestavia Hills boys won for the third year and row and the Lady Rebels captured their 10th overall title in 6A.
Class 4A Boys
Coach Rick Cleveland’s UMS-Wright boys piled up 69 points with three individual singles championships and two doubles titles. St. James finished second with 46 points, Randolph third with 41 and Andalusia fourth with 30.
St. James’ Mason Blackwell posted a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ian Wisener of Douglas to claim the No. 1 singles championship and teammate Stephen Sadie also won at No. 2 singles. Other singles winners included William Hooper (UMS) at No. 3, Hunter Lane (UMS) at No. 4, Brock Hidle (LAMP) at No. 5 and Patrick Kraver (UMS) at No. 6.
UMS-Wright’s doubles teams of William Hooper/Nicholas Anez and Hunter Lanier/Patrick Kraver won the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles titles, respectively, while Bronson Wessinger and Dexter Harvey fell to Randolph’s Henry Crosby and Owen Auerbach 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6) in the grueling No. 1 doubles finals
Douglas was the Sportsmanship winner.
Class 4A Girls
The UMS-Wright girls, coached by Meridy Jones, fought off a strong challenge from Randolph, St. James and Douglas. The Lady Bulldogs posted 57 points, followed by Randolph with 48, St. James 47 and Douglas, 37.
McKenzie Courtney downed Isabella Wisener of Douglas 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles title match. Anna Miller won the No. 2 singles crown over Randolph’s Caroline Richardson, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, and Samantha Kraver won at No. 3 singles. Kraver and Courtney also combined to win the No. 1 doubles championship over Douglas’s Wisener and Elena Garcia, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Miller and Helen Hinds won the No. 2 doubles for the Bulldogs.
Other singles winners were Niki Staton (No. 4) and Aly Sexton (No. 5) of Randolph and Clayton Waring of St. James (No. 6.). Waring and Carolina Mathews teamed to win the No. 3 doubles title as well.
LAMP was voted the girls’ sportsmanship winner.
Class 6A Boys
The Vestavia Hills boys, coached by Adam Kolasa, rolled to the 6A boys title with 71 points. Mountain Brook was second with 58 points, followed by Bob Jones, Florence and Huntsville tied at third with 30 points each.
Vestavia Hills junior Ziqi Wang beat Mountain Brook’s Jacob Weinacker in the No. 1 singles finals 6-0, 6-1. Cabel Cantrell won at No. 2 singles for the Rebels with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Florence’s Jimmy Todd.
Wang and Cantrell also captured the No. 1 doubles finals, beating Weinacker and Sam Ludikay of Mountain Brook 6-4, 6-2.
Ludikay won at No. 3 singles, Jack Patton of Vestavia won at No. 4 and Mountain Brook’s Will Hargrove and Yates Jackson at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.
John Morson and Patton teamed to win the No. 2 doubles championship for Vestavia while Ben Shearer and Patrick Hereford captured the No. 3 doubles crown for Mountain Brook.
Opelika was named the Sportsmanship Award winner.
Class 6A Girls
The Lady Rebels, coached by Timarie Fisk, scored 59 points to edge Mountain Brook, which had 45. Fairhope was third with 39 points and Florence fourth with 32. Mountain Brook won in 2011 and 2012.
Senior Monica Mitta and eighth-grader Priyanka Mitta won the No. 1 and No. 2 singles championships, respectivel, for Fairhope and teamed to win at No. 1 doubles. Monica Mitta beat Florence’s Lily Holmes 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 1 finals and Priyanka Mitta downed Avery King of Vestavia 6-2, 6-3 in the No. 2 finals. Their win in the No. 1 doubles finals came over Northview’s Brooke Blackmon and Madison Walding 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)..
Vestavia captured the other four singles titles, Mary Elizabeth Harmon at No. 3, followed by Haley Harmon (No. 4), Hannah Nelson (No. 5) and Katherine Shunnarah (No. 6). Harmon and Nelson won at No. 2 doubles and Mountain Brook’s Farris Ann Luce and Mary Martha Grizzle at No. 3 doubles.
Florence was awarded the Sportsmanship Award.