Both the Varsity boys’ and girls’ tennis teams advanced to Regionals after winning first and second places respectively at the District competition held at the Out-of-Door Academy on Tuesday, April 2. The girls’ team will be traveling to Naples for Regional semi-finals on Tuesday, April 6, while the boys will battle at home.

Varsity Boys

Senior Bernardo Sanson, the number-one boys player at Saint Stephen’s, has already qualified himself to the State competition in both singles and doubles. Sanson and senior William De Quant will be playing as Saint Stephen’s number-one doubles team at States in Orlando on April 13-15.

Upper School English Teacher and Varsity Head Coach Mr. James Flanigan said he was thrilled with the boys’ vast improvement and strong results this year.

“To win so many of the finals matches and to take first [place] meant a lot to the boys, but they also understand it is a stepping stone,” he said.

With the addition of Sanson and four returning players from the start line, sophomore Zach Bessette said, “Our team this year is the dream team.”

The boys won every court in the finals except for court two singles. Bessette said he could not have asked for more than beating Shorecrest, which is the team that took them out last time.

“Our team completely crushed at districts,” Bessette added.

Sanson said the team did amazingly well at Districts and he is honored to play for Saint Stephen’s.

“It has been a pleasure to be playing beside such dedicated and hard working guys, which always [makes me] strive for more,” he said.

Sanson added that he was confident about the team’s performance at Districts from the very beginning and expects great results in future competitions.

“It didn’t surprise me when we won Districts; however, we are coming up to Regionals– and hopefully States– with a humble attitude, as we all know, every match is a battle,” he said.

The Saint Stephen’s boys are looking towards a potential final match against Shorecrest, which would be a rematch of last year’s competition. Bessette said to say that matches between the two schools get intense would be a vast understatement.

“We are all looking forward to proving ourselves by defeating our foes,” he said.

Varsity Girls       

The Varsity girls’ team had four out of five players in the finals, and freshman Annie Brey won her District final match. The team only lost to ODA, the girls’ biggest rival.

Lower and Intermediate School Spanish Teacher and tennis girls’ coach Ms. Rebecca Walsh said the team won all the matches they needed to win.

“The girls knew what had to be done in order to move on to the next round, and they came through beautifully,” she said, adding, “I viewed our finals against ODA as a practice round, almost like scouting.”

Senior Jennifer Sundstrom, the team’s co-captain, said she was pleased with the results and is looking to get revenge against ODA in the potential Regional finals. Sundstrom added that last year Saint Stephen’s lost to ODA at districts but was able to win in the regional finals.

“I am hoping to do the same this year. Though ODA is strong, we are determined to fight until the very end,” she said.

Senior Hailey Nicklin, the team’s other co-captain, said anything could happen at Regionals.

“I am looking forward to the competition. It always leads to great matches and sometimes some surprises,” she said.

Until the way they prepared for Regionals, Walsh said both the Varsity boys and girls will be doing individual practice as well as focusing on doubles in order to be sharp for the Regional matches.

“We know what each played needs to work on to best prepare for their individual rematches,” she said.