Tennis team title recap: Arizona College Prep boys stun Catalina Foothills en route to first title

May 4, 2024 by Jose Garcia, AZPreps365


The Arizona College Prep tennis programs made some school history Saturday at Paseo Racquet Center. (Jose Garcia/azpreps365)

Below are the results of Saturday's team tennis championships at Paseo Racquet Center. 

D-3 Girls

Scottsdale Prep

Scottsdale Prep def. Phoenix Country Day School 5-1

No. 1 Scottsdale Prep’s Nandini Patel def. PCDS’ Zara Campbell 6-1, 6-1

No. 2 Scottsdale Prep’s Noelle Oh def. PCDS’ Adell Ekpo 6-0, 6-3

No. 3 Scottsdale Prep’s Samantha Ferro def. PCDS’ Ayelet Jaffee 5-7, 6-0, 10-6

No. 4 Scottsdale Prep’s Nadien Clerici def. PCDS’ Sophia Valente 6-4, 7-5

No. 5 Scottsdale Prep’s Gabriella Clerici def. PCDS’ Taylor Black 6-2, 6-4

No. 6 PCDS’ Lauren Russo def. Scottsdale Prep’s Maya Hamer 6-1, 6-1

“(PCDS) was missing its No. 2 player. They weren’t at full strength, but I would say that winning 5-1, without having to go to doubles, is a convincing win. We lost 6-3 to them in the regular season, with a couple of matches going to tiebreakers. Our confidence grew during the season as we gained some momentum. That loss was early in the season, and there was a lot of improvement that we saw throughout the season. It (title) is fantastic to have it back, and we did it against our biggest rival we face year in and year out. They are the toughest school that we face every year, so it’s a sweeter victory for us to get it back from them. Certainly they are a great team and make us better, and I would like to think we make them better. We are proud of this victory. We are proud of this result. We are proud of our seniors. Nandini Patel ended her career undefeated. Sam Ferro was undefeated in singles this year. Our no. 2, sophomore Noelle Oh, won the singles title this year. So it was just a successful season all-around. Our No. 1 doubles took runner-up.”—coach Michael Puhala

Phoenix Country Day School

D-3 Boys

ThatcherThatcher def. Pusch Ridge  5-1

No. 1 Thatcher’s Gene Huish def. Pusch Ridge’s Lukas Herndon 6-4, 6-3

No. 2 Pusch Ridge’s Nick Herndon def. Thatcher’s Eli McNeil 6-2, 6-0

No. 3 Thatcher’s Braden Huish def. Pusch Ridge’s Logan Leister 5-7, 6-3, 10-7 

No. 4 Thatcher’s Isaac Palmer def. Pusch Ridge’s Brennon Seiferth 6-2, 6-0

No. 5 Thatcher’s Brock Smith def. Pusch Ridge’s Collin Tompkins 6-4, 4-6, 10-8

No. 6 Thatcher’s Bryson Scorse def. Pusch Ridge’s Daniel Jung 6-3, 6-1

“To be honest with you it was almost a complete rehaul (after losing the title last year). We lost three seniors. We lost our No. 3 to an ACL. We had to replace four kids. We were super beat. But I’m super proud of them. They did awesome. We probably practiced more this year than we have ever had. The guys played USTA team tennis together. They went to Tucson. They went to Alburquerque. We are isolated in southeastern Arizona so we have to generate the tennis. There are no tournaments within two and half hours. So the kids just worked their butts off. Hats off to them. They are just amazing. Brock Smith (who clinched the title) was my No. 1 last year, but he had surgery on his back last year. So as soon as the season was over he was flat on his back for two weeks. He didn’t get released to play until December. He would come out and ask, ‘Coach, can I play?’ And I would tell him, ‘Brock, you can’t play. I can’t let you play until you are released.’ But he made it back. I wasn’t sure if he was going to make it on varsity. But he made it as our No. 5. I couldn’t be more proud of him. He is so excited. To come back from that surgery, it’s amazing stuff for him. That was awesome."--coach Chris Cook

Pusch Ridge Christian

D-2 Girls

Arizona College Prep

Arizona College Prep def. Notre Dame 5-3

No. 1 Notre Dame’s Georgia Cranford def. ACP’s Payton Tran 6-0, 6-0

No. 2 Notre Dame’s Gracie Cranford def. ACP’s Simran Bhalla 6-1, 6-0

No. 3 ACP’s Megan Truong def. Notre Dame’s Kate Smith 6-4, 6-3

No. 4 Notre Dame’s Ariana Maesta def. ACP’s Abigail Hansen 6-3, 6-4

No. 5 ACP’s Carleigh Carlos def. Notre Dame’s Margaux Gruhn 6-1, 6-1

No. 6 ACP’s Sophia Baniameri def. Notre Dame’s Kate Weber 6-2, 6-0

No. 2 doubles ACP’s Simran Bhalla/Abigail Hansen def. Notre Dame’s Gracie Cranford/Margaux Gruhn 8-6

No. 3 ACP’s Sophia Baniameri/Carleigh Carlos def. Notre Dame’s Kate Smith/Kate Weber 8-0

“We were a small program but have come a long way and year after year we have improved. We had a goal, and together we’ve done it. I will tell you last year was a heartbreak to lose like we did to Catalina Foothills. They were an excellent team, but I think that loss added fuel to the fire and made us hungry for more and made us prepare for where we are today. The key today was teamwork. It’s not always the same line that wins, but every girl on this team fights very, very hard to get their point for their team. So it’s 100 percent teamwork that made that happen today.”—Coach Debi Stahl

Notre Dame

D-2 Boys

Arizona College PrepArizona College Prep def. Salpointe 5-0

No. 2 ACP’s Hayden Truong def. Salpointe’s Alexis Tellechea-Garcia 6-1, 6-1

No. 3 ACP’s Alex Manolache def. Salpointe’s Anthony Geile 6-0, 6-0

No. 4 ACP’s Anirudh Yellapragada def. Salpointe’s Grant Miller 6-4, 6-3

No. 5 ACP’s Charles Schuler def. Salpointe’s Michael Starr 6-3, 6-0

No. 6 ACP’s Noah Nicholson def. Salpointe’s Marco Romero 6-2, 6-2

“How exciting (the final doubles match versus nine-time defending champ Catalina Foothills in the semifinals). Hayden and Charles clinched it. It was just amazing. The big point was when we were up 5-3 40-love, and they were able to come back to deuce. And then our doubles team just won the next two points to go up 6-3. That was huge. And then they were able to win the next two game to clinch it. The atmosphere was unreal. It was team tennis at its best. Both teams were on the court just cheering on the teams. So it was a lot of fun. I know these boys are really excited about it. Last year they had a really close match with Catalina Foothills in the semifinals and didn’t win that one. So this was a big rematch. It’s been a lot of fun for them. It was exciting.”—coach Matt Tully

Salpointe

D-1 Girls

Xavier

Xavier def. Desert Mountain 5-4

No. 1 Desert Mountain’s Chae Rin Youn def. Xavier’s Danielle Dyer 6-2, 6-0 

No. 2 Desert Mountain Hannah Fitzgerald def. Xavier’s Addison Solomon 6-2, 6-1

No. 3 Xavier’s Belani Soto def. Desert Mountain’s Alexandra Frazier 6-3, 3-6, 10-5

No. 4 Desert Mountain’s Kaley Gravel def. Xavier’s Julia Chrostowski 6-3, 6-3

No. 5 Xavier’s Kristina Stender def. Desert Mountain’s Reese Plisky 6-0, 6-1

No. 6 Xavier’s Margaret Henry def. Desert Mountain’s Juliana Dal Bo 4-6, 6-1, 10-7

No. 1 doubles Xavier’s Danielle Dyer/Addison Solomon def. Desert Mountain’s Hannah Fizgerald/Chae Rin Yoon 8-4

No. 2 Xavier’s Julia Chrostowski/Belani Soto def. Desert Mountain’s Alexandra Frazier/Reese Plisky 9-7

No. 3 Desert Mountain’s Julianna Dal Bo/Kaley Gravel def. Xavier’s Gabrielle Dinan/Kristina Stender 8-6

“I think that the unity that they have was key. They knew they couldn’t do it one by one. They had to go out on the court and cheer each other on and look for each other for support rather than coming to us (coaches). The talent of both teams is the same. I think these girls have grown so much together as a team and family. They did it themselves.”—co-head coach Khristen Vanderwey

“We had a couple of girls who were injured (when we lost to Desert Mountain) in the regular season. One came into the season injured and had a little bit of a slow start to her season. And we had one injured during the Kiwanis Tournament and didn’t play against Desert Mountain. A third player also was coming back from an injury. Once they got through those injuries they started playing well together.”—co-head coach Joy rodey

“Laurie Martin coached tennis at Xavier for 16 years. Her daughter played at Xavier as well and one coached with her for a couple of years. She was very big with the AIA and USTA and every type of board there was. She was a trend setter and an amazing leader and really difficult person to say no to. And that’s how she got all of these amazing coaches. To lose her was very tragic. She had a tragic accident at home and passed away. The girls dedicated this win to coach Martin.”—Rodey and Vanderwey

Desert Mountain

D-I Boys

Brophy

Brophy def. Mountain Ridge 5-2

No. 1 Mt. Ridge’s Lincoln Baldanado def. Brophy’s Ryan Zerbib 6-3, 4-6, 10-1

No. 2 Mt. Ridge’s Jacob Thomas def. Brophy’s Ken Akiyoshi 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 10-7

No. 3 Brophy’s Logan Phillips def. Mt. Ridge’s Bruce Ruan 6-7, 6-2, 10-2

No. 4 Brophy’s Tyler Woo def. Mt. Ridge’s Rayhaan Basha 6-1, 6-2

No. 5 Brophy’s Alex Bunske def. Mt. Ridge’s Dylan Fussell 7-5, 6-1

No. 6 Brophy’s Ethan Ashok def. Mt. Ridge’s Kaleb Williams 3-6, 6-2, 10-3

No. 2 doubles Brophy’s Naren Gudavalli/Logan Phillips def. Mt. Ridge’s Erik Prabakaran/Bruce Ruan 8-0

“I can’t lie. We did talk about it on the way here (losing last year’s team final). The difference between last year and this year is they knew not to expect to win and that they would have to go out on the court. So we talked about how to do that during the 40 minute drive here. And during our warm-up this morning at Xavier. I think the big difference was that there was better attention to detail throughout the season so that when we wound up in a match like this the focus was much more sharp. There were a couple of key moments today. On Court 6, Ethan lost the first set and his teammates rallied to him and carried him through the second set. And then he ran away in the tiebreaker. The second key moment was Logan Phillips winning on Court 3 at the end of singles to put us up 4-2. In doubles, we had to make a substitution at No. 1 doubles, which I was comfortable making. Andre Johnson was a state champ last year and a finalist the year before that. He just didn’t play much with us this year for a couple of reasons. He’s been injured and had other things going on. We kept him on the roster, and when No. 1 Ryan went down with cramps, the team came to me and said we want Andre, and I said OK.”—Chris Campbell

Mountain Ridge