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| April 25, 2008 |
Vol.I Issue 23 |
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Tennis Districts
Picture yourself in agony, with the feeling of pain all over your body, the sun burning the back of your neck, and the sweat dripping down your face; yes, you are in the midst of the tennis districts. PC Tennis Districts are three days worth of tough, lengthy, and tiresome tennis matches. Fortunately, for the first time, two teams this year get to advance into regionals from districts.
Even with the increased level of competition, the girls’ tennis team rose to the occasion and battled against the other eight teams in the district for the advancement into Regionals. Overall, the Girls Tennis Team came in second place. As a result, the Girls’ tennis team will have to compete against Gulliver who won states last year.
Senior Lianne Epstein advanced to the finals to play American Heritage for the district win in her position (#2 Singles). Taylor Malinchak also played against American Heritage in the finals for her position (#5 Singles). Both of these girls battled hard but were unable to bring forth the win.
Pine Crest’s #2 Doubles Team, consisting of Liza Plafsky and Nicole Russell, also advanced to the finals and were defeated by American Heritage.
Junior Nicole Russell was the only one to win her position, #4 Singles, in Districts in two quick sets (6-2, 6-0) against American Heritage.
Though most of the girls did not win their position in districts, every match counted for points to earn the team second place overall so that they could advance to Regionals.
Pine Crest Districts consist of nine teams but only one team will come out as the champion. The boys’ tennis team was quite successful this year in Districts with every member making it to the finals but position one.
Blaine Willenborg (#2 Singles) and Carlos deBracamonte (#4 Singles) both advanced to the finals in singles but were defeated.
Eighth grader Tony Russell won both his singles (#5 singles) and doubles position (#2 doubles). Tony was the first one to finish his final singles match. Because of his wins, Pine Crest knew that there was no way that North Broward could catch up to them in points. (PC 21pts- NB 17pts).
Pine Crest’s #2 Doubles Team, consisting of Tony Russell and Carlos deBracamonte, advanced to the finals after beating American Heritage in three sets the night before. One spectator felt that “it was amazing watching Tony serve almost 100 deuces in one game. This kid is a real athlete who stays strong throughout the entire match. You would have never been able to guess that the match lasted over multiple hours." Even though Russell and deBracamonte played a tiresome match the previous night, they were able to play through the pain and exhaustion to defeat North Broward in the doubles finals the next day.
Seventh grader Roy Lederman won his position (#3 Singles) in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 6-3). Together with Lederman’s and Russell’s wins, the boys conquered Districts in points.
Senior David Muckey and Eighth grader Blaine Willenborg were one win shy of going to States. Though the previous year, David was able to go to states along with his previous doubles partner, this year he was not as successful.
In all, the boys have had quite a successful season and hosted #2 seed, LaSalle High School in the Regional Semi-finals. It was a hard fought battle with #4 Carlos deBracamonte and #5 Tony Russell winning their singles matches. #3 Roy Lederman lost a tough match 6-4, 7-5. Pine Crest went into doubles needing both points to win the match but fell short at the #1 position.
The competition on the road to States has historically been more difficult then the level of play at States. This is due to our region including Gulliver. Gulliver consistently, not only appears at States, but, finishes strong, if not wins. These boys are young and over the years will acquire more knowledge and skills to hopefully send them on the tracks to represent Pine Crest in States.
-Nicole Russell
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