Craig finished perfect season while See, Pacheco won state titles
Coral Springs Charter’s Juhnyee See and Monarch’s Corey Craig won individual titles at the FHSAA state tennis championships. St. Thomas Aquinas’ Isabella Pacheco was integral in the Raiders winning a team title and had the chance for a pair of individual titles of her own if not for an injury.
The trio was among South Florida’s best on the tennis court this high school season and it’s why they are the Miami Herald’s Broward Tennis Players of the Year. See and Pacheco are splitting the Girls’ Player of the Year honors while Craig won the boys’ title outright.
Craig, a senior and Boston University signee, went a perfect 15-0 this season and won the Class 4A individual singles title. He didn’t drop a single set during his four matches at state, which included a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 win over topseeded Flagler Palm
Coast’s Daniel Berenbilt to win the individual bracket and a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Miami Palmetto’s Sebastian Munoz to claim the overall state singles title.
Winning states was a challenge because I had to have four good wins,” Craig said. “Two wins were really tough against two of my friends -- and, yeah, I definitely could’ve lost some matches.”
Craig also advanced to state with teammate Tai Le in doubles.
See, a sophomore, was a double individual winner at state this year. She cruised through the Class 2A individual singles bracket, dropping just three total games over sweeps of Parrish’s Odessa Eisch (6-0, 6-0), Miami LaSalle’s Isabella Rojas (6-0, 6-2) and Panama City Rutherford’s Isabel Ceydeli (6-1, 6-0), before beating Bolles’ Violet Robbins in a tiebreaker 6-3, 5-7 [12-10] for the overall singles title.
In doubles, she paired up with Madisen Clark and had just as much
success. Four matches, four sweeps, capped by a 6-1, 6-1 win over Satellite’s Maya Boysen and Ellie Carpenter to make See one of two players to win individual championships in both singles and doubles at state this year (Satellite’s Max Lindstrom also won both on the boys’ side in Class 2A).
“It was an exhilarating
journey,” See said. “And it was very fun to play with my doubles partner, Maddy. Hopefully we can do this again next year.”
Pacheco, meanwhile, had the chance for a clean sweep of the hardware. She played No. 1 singles and doubles for Class 3A team champion St. Thomas Aquinas and had confidence heading into
the season after participating in the 18 and under National Clay Court Championships in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and the USTA Billie Jean King National Championships in San Diego this summer.
“I didn’t even do anything major, like win the tournament or anything,” Pacheco said, “but I was still really happy with how I was playing against some of the best girls in the country.”
Pacheco, a Cincinnati signee, went a perfect 6-0 in singles and doubles during the team portion of state to help the Raiders win their 12th overall team title and first since winning four in a six-year span from 2003-2008.
But she lost to Belleview’s Delaney Bennett 0-6, 6-2 [12-10] in the overall singles final and had to withdraw from the overall doubles final after tearing the ACL in her right knee late in the first set.
“I wouldn’t trade [this season] for anything,” Pacheco said. “I know I got hurt, but it was still so much fun. I had my best friends on the team and I love my coach and just the team that we had, the environment was so positive and fun. I’m so happy we were able to win as a team together.”