Eight D-I, D-II singles, doubles tennis champs crowned

May 2, 2011 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


The new division setup in boys and girls singles and doubles tennis yielded its first state champions of 2011 in Division I and Division II on Monday afternoon at Paseo Racquet Club A nice balance was achieved with eight champs (four singles and four doubles) with eight different schools associated to the titles.

Leading the coronation were three-peat champs -- the Division II boys doubles team of Yates and Hunter Johnson of Millennium. The Johnsons, the 5A-II champs and 4A-I champs the last two years, respectively, defeated Brophy's Kyle Chalmers and Hudson Blake, 6-1, 7-5.

Picking up repeats of sorts were Corona del Sol's  Alex Lawson and Catalina Foothills Samantha Ruth. Lawson was half of the state champion 5A-I doubles team (in 2009 and 2010 with teammate Kyle Ogren). Lawson played singles this year and as the top-seed lived up to it with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Horizon's NIcolas Montoya to collect a third straight title.

Ruth paired with Nooria Sufi for Catalina Foothills last year to win the 4A-I doubles title. This year she teamed up with Nooria Sufi's younger sister, Zaina, to defeat Marissa Baca and Katrina Domingo of Ironwood Ridge, 6-3, 7-6 to claim Division II doubles supremacy.

The Division II boys doubles title match was an all-Ironwood Ridge affair. No. 3 seed Alec Petford and Cody Petford, knocked off unseeded teammates Josh Taylor and Connor Spiegel, 7-6, 6-2.

The Division II boys singles champ is Campo Verde's Dominic Patrick. Patrick beat last year's 4A-I singles champ, Saguaro's Cameron Tehrani  in the semifinals and then dispatched last year's 4A-II champ, Palo Verde's Carlos Bermudez, 7-5, 6-3 in the final.

Rounding out the other champions on Monday are: Division I girls singles went to  Centennial sophomore Mariely Hassey, who beat last year's 5A-I runner-up, Erica Medlin (Mesquite) in the semifinals after being down a set. Hassey then defeated Hamilton's Lidia Csernak in the final, 6-0, 6-1. The Division II girls singles crown went to Canyon del Oro's Rita Bermudez, who topped Sunnyslope's Aleeza Kanner, 6-4, 6-0.

The Division I girls doubles title fell to Mesa Mountain View's Alex Marlowe and Demi Daniels, who earned a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 victory over Xavier's Kendra Mahoney and Kelsey Rose.