When it comes to the sport of tennis, Celebration has been top dog in the county for a long time. It’s boys team has won the last six Orange Belt Conference championships and 11 of the last 14; while the Lady Storm have won seven of the last nine, including taking the team championship in each of the last two years.
So it is no surprise that Celebration will be favored to repeat when the 2024 Orange Belt Conference Tennis Championships are contested with the quarterfinals and semifinals beginning this Saturday (Mar. 23) at Kissimmee Oaks Courts at 8 a.m. The finals are slated for this coming Tuesday (Mar. 26) at Celebration High at 4 p.m.
Although the favorites remain the same, the format is new for this year.
Previously the OBC Championships in tennis for both the boys and girls was determined by a season-long round robin competition, with the school compiling the best record winning the team championship. This year’s tournament will be a single elimination bracket competition for the top five singles and top two doubles lines from each school. A single point will be earned for each individual match won and the school with the most points accumulated will be declared the 2024 champions.
The top two ranked players from each of seven lines (Singles 1-5 and Doubles 1-2) will be seeded in the bracket; while the remaining six spots will be determined by blind draw. In the event of a bye, no point will be awarded unless the player or doubles team receiving the bye wins their next match. Each individual match will be a best of 10 games, win by two games format. A seven point tiebreaker will be held after if an individual match is tied 7-7 after 14 games.
Saturday’s opening round will begin with eight number one singles matches (four boys and four girls), with singles lines two through five following. Doubles play will start immediately after the conclusion of quarterfinal singles; with the semifinal starting right after doubles play. Individual champions will be crowned on Tuesday.
“It’s a new format, but it brings tennis in line with most of our other team sports where a tournament–rather than round robin play—determines our champion,” Osceola County Athletics Director Ryan Adams noted. “I think it’s more exciting for the players and fans to know exactly when and what it takes to win an OBC championship. You never truly get that with round robin season long competition.”
Celebration head coach Rachel Holt calls her girls’ team perhaps the best one she has had since her time with the Storm. Seniors Valerina Lopez and Diana Perez-Nunez have led the Storm to a 9-1 record this season. Playing out of the number one singles spot, Lopez is 8-0 and has combined with Perez-Nunez (6-1 in number two singles) to go 5-0 as the team’s top doubles combination. Freshman Naiya Wise-Beaumont is 4-1 playing out of the number four singles position.
The Storm boys’ team is led by Cayman Pearce and Juan Jimenez, who have split time as the number one singles player and have formed the Storm’s top doubles team. Freshman Gabriel Santos is 5-1 playing out of the number five singles spot and joins fellow freshman Spencer Sterry, where they have gone 5-1 this season as the Storm’s number #2 doubles team. Celebration is currently 5-2 this season on the boys’ side.
“We’re really looking forward to an exciting tournament,” Holt said. “Whether we are the favorite or not, anything can happen – especially under this new format.”
Gateway, Harmony and possibly St. Cloud and Osceola could stand in the way of a Storm repeat for both the boys and girls titles. The Harmony boys’ team took a 2-2 record into this week and are led by a pair of juniors in Cole Nelson and Lincoln Johnson, their number one and two players in singles and the school’s top doubles team. A relatively young team, the Longhorns top seven players are underclassmen. Harmony girls took a 3-0 mark into play this week and are led by top players Gabriella Alvardo and Brie White.
Under head coach Chad Ansbaugh, St. Cloud’s boys team has seen Jake Chisholm (3-1) and Maxim Jezek (3-1) flipping between the number one and number two singles positions this season and the duo also forms the school’s top doubles team. Freshman Brody Ansbaugh, an outstanding prospect in track, is pulling double duty this spring as St. Cloud’s number five singles player and has been undefeated this season with a 5-0 mark—but will miss the tournament due to track obligations. The Lady Bulldogs are 2-2 this season and are led by Cassandra Borchers, Isabella Halk and Gwyneth Fancher. Borchers (2-2) and Halk (3-1) are playing out of the top two spots in the St. Cloud lineup; while Borchers and Flanders are the school’s top doubles’ team at 3-1 this season.
The results of the tennis competition could be critical for the Bulldogs, who are currently locked in a tight race with Harmony for the year-long OBC All-Sports Trophy.
Gateway is another team that could challenge the Storm’s supremacy. With six sophomores and a freshman in its top seven players, the Panthers boys team is even younger than the Harmony team but have posted a solid start to the season. Gateway is 4-4 this season and is led by Kyle Vonk (4-4) and Gabriel Gonzalez (3-3), who have spent the majority of the season as the Panthers number one and two singles players and top doubles team.
Sisters Anaila and Aurelia Cooks form the Lady Panthers top doubles team that has gone 4-2 this season; while Anaila (4-2) has been playing out of Gateway’s top singles spot now for three seasons. Also of note is sophomore Anisa Hanafi, who is a combined 5-0 in singles play this year – spending the majority of the season at the number five spot. Overall, the Lady Panthers are 5-2 this season.
Other top players to watch in the tournament are Taquan Brown (Poinciana), Jakiel Molina (Liberty), Erik Lizardi (Osceola) and Josue Dickson-Castaneda on the boys’ side and Roselynn Bustamonte (Poinciana), Louisa Dotsey (Liberty), Jasmine Hodges (Osceola) and Anna Bella Guedez (Tohopekaliga) on the girls’ side.
