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ALL-AREA GIRLS TENNIS TEAM
PLAYER OF THE YEAR SARA SWIFT
All-Area First Team
AMANDA BRESLAW John Carroll senior ARI DESMAN Martin County freshman JULIA CUSAMANO Martin County junior Danagrace Buck
Melany Frehafer
LOLA FADULA St. Edward’s junior STELLA FEDELE Jensen Beach freshman ALISA KLINSPORT St. Edward’s junior STEPHANIE POMPA Martin County freshman
Jennifer Gosney
Hanna Slutsky
Honorable Mention
Michelle Sabado
SAMANTHA RIVERO Okeechobee junior RACHEL SMITH St. Edward’s junior ERICA SUSI Vero Beach freshman
Coach of the Year
Gabriela Portmann
Patricia Portmann
Walt Scherer
DANAGRACE BUCK
St. Edward’s junior, No. 2 singles Notable: Buck compiled an 11-3 record and won her flight at the Class 1A district tournament. She also teamed with Sara Swift to win the No. 1 doubles title in district play. When Buck rallied to win her match at the regional finals, she helped propel her team to the state tournament.
MELANY FREHAFER
Martin County senior, No. 3 singles Notable: Frehafer compiled a 17-1 record at No. 3 singles to close out her career with a 75-4 record. She teamed with Hanna Slutsky to go 13-2 at No. 1 doubles to win a Class 3A district title. Frehafer was the only Martin County player to win a match at state.
JENNIFER GOSNEY
Lincoln Park eighth-grader, No. 2 singles Notable: The young Gosney turned in an accomplished performance, compiling a 13-2 record and winning the No. 2 singles at the Class 2A district tournament and then teaming with Michelle Sabado to win at No. 1 doubles and advance to the state tournament. The duo won their first match at state.
MICHELLE SABADO
Lincoln Park senior, No. 1 singles Notable: Sabado got off to a slow start, but finished strong. She ended the year with a 15-5 record, winning Class 2A district titles at No. 1 singles and doubles. She advanced to the semifinal at state in individual singles play and teamed with Jennifer Gosney to win an opening match in doubles play.
HANNA SLUTSKY
Martin County junior, No. 1 singles Notable: Slutsky went 14-1 in singles play, going unbeaten until the first round of the Class 3A state tournament. In that stretch, she won her second straight No. 1 singles title in district play. She also compiled a 13-2 record at No. 1 doubles including a district championship.
GABRIELA PORTMANN
Vero Beach sophomore, No. 1 and 2 singles Notable: Portmann, who began the year playing No. 2 singles before moving up the lineup because of an injury, went 10-3 overall. She teamed with sister Patricia to win the No. 1 doubles title at district. The two advanced to the finals of the individual doubles bracket at the state tournament.
PATRICIA PORTMANN
Vero Beach freshman, No. 2 and 3 singles Notable: After starting the season at No. 3 singles, Portmann moved up because of an injury and finished the year with a 13-3 record. She teamed with sister Gabriela to win No. 1 doubles at the Class 4A district tournament. The duo advanced to the finals of individual doubles play at the state tournament.
ALEX BOERNER/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS
Sara Swift of St. Edward’s is the 2012 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Girls Tennis Player of the Year.
The competitor
Sara Swift blazed through the season unbeaten, before falling just shy of a state title
By Aimee Ford Foster
Player of the Year
Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The match that Sara Swift remembers best from this spring isn’t any of 17 straight she won to start the year. Instead, like many athletes, the one that remains most vivid for Swift is the one she lost. After sweeping through the regular season unbeaten, though not untested, and then winning a Class 1A district title at No. 1 singles and two regional matches, Swift came up against an immovable foe in the state semifinals. “I had actually beaten (Gainesville-P.K. Yonge’s Jazz Whitaker) in the fall in a tournament,” Swift said. “It was a tough loss. (Whitaker) played a lot of mind games with me. She was very consistent. It was a bummer way to end the season.”
Sara Swift
St. Edward’s sophomore, No. 1 singles Notable: Swift compiled an impressive 17-1 record, suffering her first and only loss in the Class 1A state semifinals. She won a district title on the way and swept unbeaten through regional play to help her team advance to the state tournament. Coach Jim Buck: “She is just very mentally tough. She seems to be able to gather herself in tight moments and closes out a match really well. She plays a lot of tennis. She’s very seasoned match player. ... Sara has tremendous ground strokes and by and large, she hits right through people. She is a fierce competitor.”
The simple truth, though, is that advancing at the state tournament at any level is an achievement. So is compiling a 17-1 record, and winning a district title. “She absolutely had a great year,” coach Jim Buck said. “She played a couple of close matches that she won in tiebreakers. She’s just very men-
tally tough. She seems to be able to gather herself in tight moments and closes out a match really well.” For her achievements this spring, Swift has been named the 2012 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers Girls Tennis Player of the Year. “The regular season couldn’t have gone better,” Swift said. “I had a couple
of really good wins — including two against Vero Beach — and some pretty close matches. Then in the regional finals, I battled and pulled that out and then it was off to state.” Swift has played at St. Edward’s since her eighthgrade year. She started playing the game when she was 4 years old, when her family was living in Vail, Colo. When they relocated to Florida four years ago, Swift got serious about the game. Her ultimate goal is to play Division I college tennis. To that end, she plays year-round. “I do enjoy playing high school tennis and being on the team,” Swift said. “I have a couple of good matches every year against tough competition that helps my game. But once the high school season is over, I focus on getting my rankings up.”
Team: Martin County Record: 214-83, 17 seasons 2012 season: Led the Tigers to a 16-1 record, district and regional championships and a sixth straight state tournament despite blending three newcomers into a lineup hit hard by graduation. Martin County went unbeaten against Treasure Coast competition, picking up its lone loss against Benjamin. Quotable: “We had a lot of new faces, so it was pretty exciting ... I really didn’t know what to expect out of the freshmen other than I knew we had some pretty good ones coming in. Julia (Cusamano, junior transfer) was the jewel. She worked so hard.”
She’s just very mentally tough. She seems to be able to gather herself in tight moments and closes out a match really well.”
Jim Buck, St. Edward’s tennis coach on Player of the Year Sara Swift
The Team The 2012 All-Area Girls Tennis Team was compiled by Aimee Ford Foster.
See previous all-area teams on prepzone. TCPalm.com
All-Area Spring Sports Schedule SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
JUNE 10
Girls Tennis
Boys Tennis
Girls Track
Boys Track
Girls Lacrosse
Boys Lacrosse
Softball
Baseball
STAY ON THE BALL. prepzone.tcpalm.com Total High School Sports, anyway you look at it.