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ALL-AREA GIRLS TENNIS TEAM
PLAYER OF THE YEAR gabriela portmann
All-Area First Team
Virginie Becht
Stella Fedele
Lauren Maunus
Stephanie Pompa
Patricia Portmann
Alana Strauss
ALEX SLITZ/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS
Olivia Wallman
Vero Beach High School’s Gabriela Portmann is the 2014 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Girls Tennis Player of the Year. To see more photos, go to TCPalm.com.
‘Best season of my life’
Virginie Becht
Vero Beach freshman Notable: Becht finished 9-1 at No. 3 singles despite missing the early part of the season with an ankle injury. She won her flight at the district championships and shut out both her opponents at regionals.
VBHS’s No. 1 player Gabriela Portmann achieves goal of going to state
Stella Fedele
Jensen Beach junior Notable: Fedele finished the year 6-2 at No. 1 singles. She won the District 14-3 championship without surrendering a single set in the finals. After a loss in the regional semifinals, Fedele rebounded with a 6-0, 6-0 win in the regional championship match. Poll: Fedele topped the TPalm.com readers poll with 42 percent of the votes.
Lauren Maunus
South Fork junior Notable: Maunus had a solid regular season for the Bulldogs, going 8-4 and finishing as the district runner-up in District 14-3A which helped her team advance to regionals. She picked up her biggest win of the year, and the only one for South Fork, in the regional semifinal against Melbourne.
Stephanie Pompa
Martin County junior Notable: Pompa finished with an 11-6 record at No. 1 singles. She played well in her losses, most of them close matches against other top players in the area.
Patricia Portmann
Vero Beach junior Notable: Portmann finished with a 14-2 record at No. 2 singles, picking up one of her losses in the first round of the state tournament. She won her flight at the District 9-4A championships and won both her regional matches by a wide margin.
Alana Strauss
Jensen Beach freshman Notable: Perhaps the steadiest Falcon this season, Strauss finished 8-2 at No. 2 singles. She won the district in her division, both her regional matches and won her first match at the Class 3A state championships.
By Aimee Ford Foster Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers
The goal that Gabriela Portmann chased most persistently this spring was to help the Vero Beach High School girls tennis team advance to its second consecutive state championship tournament. To make that happen, the senior played what both she and coach Billy Almeyda called the best tennis of her life. Portmann was undefeated at No. 1 singles through the regular season and deep into the postseason, not picking up her first loss until the first round of the Class 4A state tournament. For her performance throughout the year, and for leading the Fighting Indians into the state tournament, Portmann has been named the 2014 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Girls Tennis Player of the Year. It is an award she has long coveted. “It’s been my dream since the ninth grade,” Portmann said. “My ninth-grade teacher asked me what I wanted to do and I wanted to get that. I wanted to get it so much.” Portmann has been a mainstay in Vero Beach’s lineup since that freshman year. She played No. 1 singles and doubles and qualified for the state individual tournament in both. As a sophomore, she split time at No. 1 and No. 2 singles and advanced to state in doubles competition with her sister, Patricia. Last year, with 2013 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers co-Player of the Year Erica Susi
Olivia Wallman
Lincoln Park Academy freshman Notable: Wallman finished 13-1 at No. 2 singles and 11-1 at No. 2 doubles. She won both the singles division and doubles at the District 14-2A championships, helping Lincoln Park finish second and advance to the regional tournament.
Player of the Year
Coach of the Year
GABRIELA PORTMANN
Billy Almeyda
Vero Beach senior Notable: Portmann finished the year 14-1, winning all her matches until the opening round of the state tournament. She was the District 9-4A champion in No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, which she played with her sister Patricia. After a gutsy split-set win in the district finals, Gabriela Portmann surrendered only one set combined in her regional semifinal and final wins. Coach Billy Almeyda: “She was definitely at a different level this year. I think it’s the best she’s ever played in her life. Every single match from the first match to the last, I saw her confidence going up, up, up. Matches I thought she might struggle in, she blossomed, like against Spruce Creek. I think from that day on, her confidence level went up like crazy.”
healthy, Gabriela Portmann played No. 2 all year. “Not every player gets better as a senior, some of them think they know the level (of play needed) and slack off and their level of play goes down,” Almeyda said. “Gabby came into this season knowing Erica wasn’t there and that the No. 1 spot was hers. She really wanted to prove that she earned that No. 1 spot. “I think she played the best she ever played in her life.” Portmann, who said she will play on the club tennis team next year at the University of Notre Dame, readily accepted the pressure of playing the No. 1 spot when Susi didn’t return to the team this spring. “It was hard my sophomore year because I really wanted to play the No. 1, but when junior season came around, Erica was very good,” Portmann said. “Then this year, my biggest goal was for the team to get to states and I thought without Erica that would be really hard. “Playing the No. 1 has so much
more pressure on it because everyone expects you to be the best. You can play a team where all the players are bad, but the No. 1 is amazing.” Since her freshman season, Portmann has played No. 1 doubles for Vero Beach. This year, she teamed for the last time with Patricia, who is a junior. They were undefeated until the first round of the state tournament. The two use a secret weapon on the court together, speaking openly in German when calling shots or discussing strategy. The sisters were born in Zurich, Switzerland, and immigrated to the United States as toddlers. “That was our first language,” said Gabriela Portmann, who also speaks Spanish. “We mostly speak German to intimidate the other players.” That is one more memory from her final high school season that Portmann, who became a U.S. citizen as a freshman, will cherish. “This has been the best season of my life,” she said. “My team
Vero Beach, fifth year This season: Almeyda led the girls team to a 9-1 regular season and the District 9-4A title, outdistancing a competitive field with relative ease despite the fact that the entire team was healthy, with its lineup intact, for only a short time at the end of the regular season. After dominant performances in both regional matches, he guided the Fighting Indians to their second consecutive state berth. Quotable: “It was a very unexpected year. You lose someone like Erica (Susi) and then have a freshman (Virginie Becht) coming in and don’t know what she’s like. Then (Becht) plays the first match of the year and gets injured. Even with her injured, we were winning matches, and I don’t know how to tell you the truth. Then we get (Becht) back and we lose Gabby (Portmann) for two games. I only had all my players for three matches.”
went to state and then to win this award that I’ve wanted so long. I’m really happy and feel like all the hard work I’ve done has paid off. I’m so thankful I played tennis, and for my coaches and my teammates and everyone I met through tennis.”
Honorable Mention Julie Afshar The Pine School freshman Katrina Begazo Vero Beach senior Ainsley Bradshaw Vero Beach sophomore Holly Davenport Martin County freshman
Samantha Els The Pine School freshman Jennifer Gosney Lincoln Park Academy sophomore Juliet Groton Port St. Lucie junior
Alisa Pompa Martin County sophomore Leah Price South Fork freshman Coral Sotomayor South Fork sophomore Katie Sullivan Fort Pierce Central junior
Anya Tobin Martin County sophomore Elize VanZyl Lincoln Park Academy seventh grader Emily Walukiewicz Fort Pierce Central junior
All-Area Teams
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