Metro players dominate
Take home eight crowns in singles and doubles in state tournament
Sibling storylines? Oh, we had those in abundance. Playing with each other, against each other, watching each other.
International flavor? We had diversity on that front, too, with champions who had ties to Lebanon, Lithuania and the Czech Republic.
There was even a Class 6A boys state singles champion who was 5-foot-1 and weighed 87 pounds, someone who looked like he’d be toppled by the first stiff breeze that came along but whose game proved to be much larger than his frame.
If variety is indeed the spice of life, then Thursday’s conclusion to the individual singles and doubles competition at the New Mexico state tennis tournament at the Jerry Cline courts was a veritable festival.
The metro area had a banner day Thursday, claiming five of the six singles championships, and three doubles titles.
Leading the way was freshman Georgio Samaha of Eldorado. He took down teammate Mike Mounho — the defending Class 6A champion, a senior who had over a foot and probably 100 pounds on his younger opponent — in straight sets to win his first state title, 6-4, 7-5.
“I love it,” said the top-seeded Samaha, whose parents are from Lebanon and whose older brother, Elias, a sophomore, placed third after Georgio beat him in straight sets in the semifinals. “It’s pretty cool. I haven’t seemed to be able to respond. I keep saying the same exact words. I’m speechless.”
Samaha is so tiny that the shirt Eldorado gave him to play in (size small) didn’t fit. It was much too big. So, it had to be altered — re: downsized — by a tailor.
Eldorado’s other No. 1 singles seed, Ivana Corley, made it another singles sweep for the burnt orange. She beat Albuquerque High’s Maddie Chavez 6-2, 6-0 to claim her third singles championship before she begins her college career next year at Oklahoma.
“You know, it’s been a really fun four years,” Corley said. “I’m glad to go out with a bang my senior year. It’s really special.”
Carmen Corley, last year’s 6A singles state champion, teamed with Allison Romero to win 6A girls doubles this year for Eldorado, and those two steamrolled through the draw, closing with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Sandia’s Elizabeth Cummings and Hannah Boisvert in the final.
La Cueva’s Julian Lee and Jason Lyons, seeded second, upset (probably not the right word) the No. 1-seeded Adam and Aaron Overstreet of Carlsbad, 6-0, 6-1, to win state.
From Class 5A, Albuquerque ■ Academy’s Abraham Yohannes and Valencia’s Karolina Mlezivova earned singles titles Thursday.
The top-seeded Yohannes, possibly New Mexico’s best player in any class, smoked Farmington’s Ethan Nguyen, dropping only a single game.
“I was playing some great tennis,” said Yohannes, a junior who was the state runner-up a year ago. “There aren’t many days in the year where I feel spectacular playing tennis, but today was something else. And it was ultra great to cap it off on the last day of state.”
Mlezivova, a junior who heads back to the Czech Republic in a few weeks after completing a year in America’s desert southwest on an exchange program, needed three hours to beat Nguyen’s sister Emily. The second-seeded Mlezivova won 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 over the topseeded Nguyen. It was the longest match of the tournament.
“I had so many people here supporting me. I wanted to do it for them,” said an ecstatic Mlezivova as she celebrated her championship post-match. She credited a bathroom break between the second and third sets as helping her regain her composure.
She said she enjoyed her 10 months in New Mexico.
“It’s so different,” she said, “but the people here are amazing.”
The Hootman brothers from Academy, Coleton and Hunter, now juniors, won their fourth state doubles title, winning in straight sets.
The 5A girls doubles final was unusual in that sisters from Farmington, Monica Briones and Anna Briones, opposed each other. In the end, Monica, a senior, and her partner Arin Coleman beat Anna Briones and Eliza Merrion, both freshmen, 6-4, 7-6 (2).
Hope Christian produced ■ its first-ever boys state singles champion in top-seeded sophomore Adomas Skauda, whose parents were born in Lithuania. He whipped No. 2 seed Andres Garcia of Robertson, 6-2, 6-1.
“That’s one of the best feelings in the world, to be one of the first to do something,” Skauda said.
Robertson’s Brandelyn Fulgenzi cruised to the 1A-4A girls singles title. She dropped only nine games … the entire season. The Fulgenzi family also had pieces of the boys and girls doubles championships; three of the four players carried that name.
Jenese and Lauren Fulgenzi were involved in the only threeset doubles final in any class, as they won 6-7, 6-0, 6-1.
The team portion of the state tournament begins today at sites around the metro area. Team finals are Saturday at Academy and at Jerry Cline.