Friday, Apr. 25, 2008
Ridge wraps up year at regionals
By BRYCE NIEMAN
Ridge didn’t advance any of its players to the state tournament, but two doubles teams saw wins including a top four finish by the Panthers’ top boys doubles pair.
The duo of James Adams and Alex Sharp picked up two wins on Monday to advance to the second day of competition at Bentwood Country Club in San Angelo.
Adams and Sharp defeated a pair from Wolfforth Frenship in the first round and knocked off the fourth-seeded team from Sherman in the quarterfinals to extend their season to Tuesday morning.
They pulled off the upset over Sherman’s Charlie Whitfield and Brandon Koone despite dropping the first set 7-5. Adams and Sharp led in that set before giving up the lead, and had a lead in the second before Whitfield and Koone tried to narrow the gap.
Still the Panthers pair pulled out the second set 6-4 and won the third 6-2.
Ridge’s boys fell to eventual champions Brad McKenzie and Steven Davis of Canyon Randall 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals. McKenzie and Davis also defeated the Panthers’ boys doubles regional submission last fall during the team tennis season.
"(Randall’s) coach told me that we gave them the hardest match they’ve had all year," Ridge coach Bob Cook said. "If I’d had them together all year, who knows what they could’ve done."
Adams and Sharp teamed up late in the season after Adams finished playing with the Ridge basketball team.
The Panthers meet familiar faces in the consolation round in District 6-4A foes Andrew Baren and Ryan Zenor of Birdville. The Hawks defeated Adams and Sharp 6-2, 6-1.
Ridge had both of its mixed doubles teams at the tournament, and the top squad of Ariel Cordova and Ahn Mai got one win before falling in the quarterfinals.
Cordova and Mai defeated Trimble Tech’s Jovan Grozdanic and Daisy Guzman 6-1, 6-0, but came up short against the second-seeded team from Dumas of Ryan Wilhelm and Abbi Moore 6-0, 6-1.
Fossil’s other mixed doubles pair of Zack Kasson and Kim Hardwick had to face top-seeded David Levitt and Caroline Renton of Wichita Falls in the opening round. Levitt and Renton won the match 6-0, 6-1 on their way to a third-place finish.
Matt Honda represented Ridge in the boys singles division, but lost in the first round to Dustin Lambright in a tight 6-3, 6-4 match.
Had Honda won, he would’ve had to face No. 2 seed Igor Ozegovic of Southwest. Ozegovic went on to defeat Lambright and finish second to win a berth to the state tournament.
Cook said he was pleased with simply getting four different teams to the regional tournament, but was also happy with the way they performed this week.
"Everyone played as best as they could," Cook said. "When you come out here, everyone’s a district champion and you know the intensity level is going to be a lot higher."
Even though many of the Panthers hadn’t experienced that level of tennis prior to this week, Cook said his players handled it well and set a new standard for tennis at Fossil Ridge.
Ridge loses eight seniors from this year’s team, all on the boys side. The entire girls team will return for next season, Cook said, and along with junior varsity promotions, the Panthers could have as many as 15 seniors on the team as they move into District 5-5A next year.
Fossil will also get back five of the seven players that participated in this week’s regional tournament.
There will be new challenges as the team makes the move back to Class 5A, but Cook said his players have taken big strides the past two years as far as establishing an air of confidence.
"The whole idea is to get the kids to believe in themselves and play to the best of their ability," Cook said. "There’s nothing about Fossil Ridge that’s going to be easy. We’re going to put up a fight from start to finish. There’s never any back-down in us."
None of the six teams or four individual players from District 6-4A that competed this week advanced to the Class 4A championships.
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