TAMPA -- The Plant girls continued their quest for a fourth straight state tennis title with a 4-1 win against East Lake on Wednesday in a Class 4A region semifinal.
No. 1 Erica Oosterhout (6-3, 6-4), No. 2 Gabrielle Rodriguez (6-3, 6-7, 6-3), No. 4 Lauren Corcoran (6-0, 6-1) and No. 5 Korina Hernandez (6-1, 6-1) all won their singles matches. No. 3 Rehaana Butt defeated Plant’s Monica Phipps 6-0, 6-3 for East Lake’s only victory of the day.
Rodriguez led Kimberly Herrock 4-1 in the second set before Herrock got back into the match, which stretched to 2 1/2 hours before Plant got the deciding point.
“It was just all about mental toughness,” Rodriguez said. “It’s always good to be the clinching match.”
On the boys side, Plant beat Countryside 4-1, with No. 1 Alec Josepher (6-4, 6-1), No. 3 Thomas Harmon (6-4, 6-2), No. 4 Connor Jones (6-1, 6-4) and No. 5 Evan Vancavage (6-3, 7-5) winning.
More Class 4A: The Wharton and Newsome boys teams both saw their seasons end on the road. The Wildcats lost 4-2 to Sarasota Riverview, and Orlando Olympia swept Newsome 4-0. On the girls’ side, Sarasota Riverview eliminated Steinbrenner 4-2.