District Champs

Michael Adler stared across the court in anticipation.

The Sarasota High senior knew well his opponent, Venice High’s Alex Fong. Fong beat Adler during the regular season in Adler’s only singles loss.

With a district championship on the line, Adler found his rhythm a few points into the No. 2 singles final. From that point on, everything started to flow.

Adler defeated Fong 6-1, 6-2 to win an individual singles crown while leading the Sailors to their first district championship in more than a decade. Sarasota won four of the five singles matches to clinch the Class 3A-District 10 championship March 24 and March 25, at Lakewood Ranch High.

“As a team, we had more confidence going in,” Adler says. “We trained really hard in the offseason and improved our game. We went in knowing we could win.

“In years past, we were fine just saying we got to regionals,” Adler says. “This year we want to win, and I think we have a good chance of winning.”

The Sailors scored 25 points to finish one point ahead of district rival Venice. Eric Scarlett (No. 3), Connor Hester (No. 4) and Reid Devitt (No. 5) also won individual district titles. Venice won both doubles matches, as Sarasota and Venice went head-to-head in all of the finals matches.

But, unlike recent years, the outcome didn’t come down to the final doubles match of the afternoon.

“We were more free to go for our shots,” says senior Andre Johnson, who plays No. 1 singles and doubles for the Sailors. “We didn’t have that monkey on our back of knowing we could lose the title for the team.”

Johnson, who advanced to the state tournament each of the past three years, fell to Venice’s Russell Benkaim in the No. 1 singles final.

But Johnson’s quest for a state championship is far from over.

As district champion, the Sailors will be home for the regional semifinals April 7. It will be the first time Sarasota has hosted a regional match. If Sarasota is victorious, the Sailors will advance to the regional finals April 9 with the winner moving on to the Class 3A state tournament.

“We have to believe in ourselves that we can win and have the confidence to take it rather than relying on the other guy to lose it,” Johnson says.

This season, the Sailors have fully embraced the team concept, relying on and encouraging one another throughout the season. Before the season began they established their goal: Win districts.

Coach Lucy Cowan, who is in the middle of her final season of coaching after 33 years at Sarasota, was pleased with the way the district tournament played out.

But it wasn’t seeing her players’ reaction to hoisting the district championship trophy that brought tears to Cowan’s eyes. It was an email from a parent on an opposing team.

“They wrote about how nice my kids were,” Cowan says while fighting back tears. “That was my biggest reward."

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].