4 Bucs reach finals at state tennis tournament
The Hoover and Spain Park high school tennis teams concluded their seasons at the Class 7A state tournament, held April 27-28 at the Mobile Tennis Center.
The teams had to battle the elements, as rain and severe weather pushed back the start of the tournament several hours.
Hoover’s boys finished fifth, while Hoover finished sixth and Spain Park was seventh in the girls competition. Vestavia Hills won the boys title for the second straight year. Auburn was the champion on the girls side, with Vestavia finishing as the runner-up.
Hoover’s boys accumulated 12 points, as three Bucs reached the finals in their respective brackets.
Samuel Sellers had a strong run in the No. 1 singles flight. He edged Florence’s Tai Do 6-4, 6-3 in the first round, before posting a dominant victory in the semifinals. Sellers only dropped a single game in the win over Fairhope’s Charlie Wilson. Bob Jones’s Parker Free knocked off Sellers in the final.
Gavin Patton played three highly contested matches on the way to a runner-up finish at No. 2. He defeated Charlie Hill of Montgomery Academy by a 6-3, 6-3 score line in the opening round. Patton then beat Bob Jones’s Reed Rafferty by the same 6-3, 6-3 score in the semifinals. He suffered a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Vestavia Hills’ Luke Bedwell in the final.
Jackson Plugge also reached the final in the No. 4 singles competition. He beat Jackson Roberds of Fairhope 6-4, 6-1 in the opening round, before routing Bob Jones’s Hunter Johnston 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals. Vestavia’s Kade Nelson defeated Plugge in the final.
On the girls side, Kristina Hwangpo reached the No. 4 final. She blanked James Clemens’s Shivani Alapati in the opening round and dropped a single game to Vestavia’s Della Tarn in the semifinals. She dropped a tight 7-6, 7-5 match to Victoria Choo of Auburn in the final.
Anthony Hill, Asim Virani and Krish Jaikumar also played for the boys at state. For the girls, Hannah Hwangpo won a match at No. 2 singles, Abby Gobbels won one at No. 3 and Misha Patel got a win at No. 5. Laci Pyron and Nia Settles also played in the tournament.
The No. 1 doubles pair of Sage Sovic and Carys Collins of Spain Park qualified for the state tournament and advanced to the semifinals, They knocked off a Huntsville duo 6-2, 6-2, in the opening round before falling to the eventual champions from Auburn in the semifinals.
Hoover’s boys and girls finished as the runner-up in the section tournament the week prior in order to qualify for state. At the section tournament, Sellers was the only one to keep Vestavia from making a clean sweep on the boys side. He won a third-set tiebreaker 10-7 to claim the No. 1 singles title. Kristina Hwangpo won her flight on the girls side as well.