Plant’s Erica Oosterhout made the most of her first opportunity to win an overall Class 4A state championship.
Oosterhout, a junior who played No. 4 singles as a freshman and No. 2 as a sophomore, defeated Newsome’s Kylie Moulin 6-1, 6-1 in the overall Class 4A singles final Wednesday morning at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs.
She then teamed with Gabrielle Rodriguez to win the overall doubles championship. The duo beat Cypress Bay’s Shene Disbergen and Pierina Imparato 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals, then topped East Lake’s Angel Deng and Kim Herrock 6-1, 6-4 in the final.
“I had a great day today,” Oosterhout said. “I knew there was going to be good competition here so I just focused on what I had to do and played hard on every point. When I got that last point (in singles) I was relieved.”
This was the first season Rodriguez and Oosterhout played as a doubles team and did not drop a set at the state tournament. “Gabby and I felt really good together,’’ she said.
Class 3A boys: King’s boys team bowed out on Day 1, but did win two first-round singles matches — No. 1 Vignesh Bhethanabotla topped Springstead’s Patrick Deslaurier 6-1, 6-0, and No. 2 Gregory Smith rallied to beat Miami Mourning’s Samuel Prudhomme 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-8.
In the individual bracket, Freedom’s Jonathan Heidenberg defaulted his No. 1 singles match. Chamberlain’s Joseph Fisher and Hunter O’Brien won their first match 6-3, 6-3 over Orlando Edgewater, then fell 6-2, 6-3 to Gainesville’s Jacob Gordon and Peters Slayton in the quarterfinals.
Class 3A girls: In the individual bracket, King’s Sneha Sathish topped Land O’Lakes’ Kavya Avancha 6-4, 6-1 in the first round before falling in straight sets to third-seeded Priyanka Shah of Lake Nona.
Class A girls: Tampa Prep was eliminated from team title contention, but No. 1 singles player Paige Leavy will play for a state title today after winning both Day 1 matches.
Leavy defeated Carson Stratton of Tallahassee Maclay 6-2, 6-2 in her first match, then beat Windemere Prep’s Patricia Cohn 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals.
Leavy, the only Terrapin to win a singles match Wednesday, will meet top-seeded Allegra Hanlon of Ransom Everglades in the No. 1 singles final today at 8 a.m.
Staff writer John C. Cotey contributed to this report.