East County squads ready rackets

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Lakewood Ranch High senior Katherine Pyne stands at one end of the tennis court staring at the dozens of tennis balls scattered on the other side of the court.

It’s a typical day of practice for the Mustangs captain who has spent the better part of an hour working on her serve. But on this particular day, Lakewood’s No. 2 tennis player doesn’t have anyone around to challenge her. But instead of calling it a day, Pyne grabs another ball and serves it into the pile waiting on the other side.

It’s all in day’s work for the 2009 Class 3A No. 2 singles state champion. Pyne won the title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ft. Lauderdale’s Christy Kung while helping lead the Mustangs to a fifth-place finish overall.

“Katherine has shown leadership on and off the court,” coach Jason Golden said. “She’s been with me since day one and has experienced the ups and the downs, so to see her take on that leadership role is really neat to see.”

This season, Pyne has high expectations for both herself and her teammates as she prepares for her final season at Lakewood.

“I’m expecting us to go to states again and to improve from last year,” Pyne said. “My goal is the same thing, but I also want to take home a double championships.”

The Mustangs return their top three players from last season and have several knew players who are eager to get the season underway.

“It’s different from last year because we have a lot of new people on the team,” Pyne said. “I didn’t know half the team when we started, but it makes me feel important being able to show everyone what to do.”

Across the court, the Lakewood boys team also has high expectations this season after advancing to the regional semifinals last season. The Mustangs return four of their top 5 players, including Cooper Maxwell (No. 1) and Arsav and Arnav Mohanty (No. 2 and No. 3).

“We would like to make it to states, but our first goal is to win districts,” boys coach Ed Bongart said. “We’re just going to come out and have fun, and hopefully while we’re having fun we can be competitive and do our best.”

Lakewood will face a new district this season, featuring Braden River, Venice, Charlotte, Port Charlotte and Palmetto. The Mustangs will resume play Feb. 19 versus Bayshore.

BRADEN RIVER
At Braden River, the last name Babayan is synonymous with boys tennis.

For four years, Shagen Babayan ruled the courts as the Pirates No. 1 singles player, winning district titles in both singles and doubles. But this season, another Babayan has captured the attention of the Pirates coaching staff. This time it’s Babayan’s younger sister, Marie.

The 15-year-old began training at the Longwood Athletic Club with her brother when she was 7 years old. Now in her first high school season, Marie Babayan is hoping to follow in her brother’s footsteps and lead the Lady Pirates to a district title.

“My brother told me to play,” Marie Babayan said. “He told me it would be fun, so I said, ‘Alright, I’ll play.’ I’m just looking forward to having fun while getting to do something that I love.”

Joining Marie Babayan this season will be returning players Annalise Cook, Lauren Bock and Aly Delrose.

“I think we’re going to be a really strong team,” first-year coach Abby Toole said. “There’s a lot of talent on this team. It’s going to be hard to pick No. 1 to No. 5 because we have a lot of really good players.”

The Braden River boys team also is looking forward to getting the season under way. The back-to-back district champion Pirates return three of their top 5 players from last season. Leading the way for Braden River in the No. 1 position this spring will be freshman Jimme Parsons. The Pirates will also look for leadership from Mitchell Margolis (No. 3), Matt Boles (No. 5) and Stephen Desch (No. 5/6) who all return this season.

“We’ve won two district titles, so we’re looking to win districts again,” boys coach John Wheeler said. “And I expect us to make another trip to states.”

The Pirates will return to action at 3:30 p.m., today at Cardinal Mooney.

ODA
Freshman Caroline Daily didn’t know what to expect when she first stepped onto the tennis court at The Out-of-Door Academy last spring.

Daily had been playing tennis for the past nine years, but the team aspect had always eluded her.

“Just being able to have that team aspect … I wanted to do this so badly because of that team aspect,” Daily said. “I just enjoy being a part of a team and doing it for the school.”

But Daily’s skill and athleticism quickly became ODA’s biggest asset.

In her first year with the Lady Thunder, Daily advanced to the Class 1 tennis championship, winning the state title in No. 1 singles and advancing to the semifinals in No. 1 doubles with teammate Michelle Ramos.

“I think I did really well last season,” Daily said. “I didn’t know how I was going to do, since it was my first year playing high school tennis and I was only in eighth grade. So getting to and then (winning) states was a great accomplishment.”

Both Daily and Ramos return this season, and Dougherty is hoping both girls can help lead the Lady Thunder to a district championship.

“We would love to stay healthy enough and strong enough to make a run at the district championship, but we know we have some tough competition ahead of us this season,” Dougherty said.

ODA will open its season Feb. 23 against Cardinal Mooney.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].