Two plus two equals four for Corona's Lawson in D-I tennis

April 28, 2012 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Corona del Sol's Alex Lawson balanced his trophy case Saturday afternoon winning his second straight Division I boys singles title at Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale.

Lawson, a senior, won doubles titles in 2009 and 2010 in 5A-I and latched on to the equivalent  by winning the D-I singles title last year and again Saturday.

Lawson, in carbon-copy fashion to 2011, defeated Chaparral's Nolan Bauer, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Last year Lawson dropped the first set of his title match with Horizon's Nicolas Montoya, then won the next two sets. Bauer advanced to the final by beating Montoya in the semis. Lawson took care of Desert Mountain's C.J. Krimbill in his semi match.

In boys doubles, the No. 1 seeded team also prevailed. Salpointe's Matt and Andrew Dunn outlasted No. 6 seed Hudson Blake and Zach Cihlar, 6-4, 6-4.  Matt Dunn, a senior finally landed in the winner's circle after tough quarterfinal losses in 2009 and 2011 and a third-place finish in singles in 2010. Andrew Dunn, a junior,  placed fourth in doubles in 2010.

In D-I girls competition the No. 2 seeds had the best day. Salpointe senior Courtney Amos used a strong third set to beat top-seed Madison Clarke of Xavier, 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 in singles. Amos unseated the defending singles champ -- Centennial's Mariely Hassey -- in the semfinals. Hassey went on to take third, beating last year's runner-up, Lidia Csernak of Hamilton. Amos' singles title was the third overall in her career. She teamed up with fellow senior and cousin Lauren for doubles titles in 2009 and 2010. Courtney and Lauren Amos played singles last year, but both defaulted in the round of 16. 

While Clarke, a freshman, didn't prevail in singles, her Xavier doubles teammates Scarlet Rush and Maggie Cohen bested Salpointe's top-seeded duo Lauren Amos and Claire Baxter, 6-3, 6-1. Rush is a freshman and Cohen a sophomore.