MAST Academy tennis squads advance to semifinals in 1st state tourney appearance
Academy made history on Monday at the state tennis tournament in Altamonte Springs.
Coach Nicholas Kontos, who started the MAST tennis program in 2012, said this is the first time his school has reached the state tournament in boys’ or girls’ competitions.
The second-seeded MAST boys beat Citrus, 4-0, on Monday. MAST will play third-seeded Lake Highland Prep on Tuesday in the state semifinals.
“They have a bunch of seventh-graders,” Kontos said of Lake Highlands. “They are very good.”
That should provide quite a contrast to MAST’s older-type team.
MAST’s No. 1 boy is senior Alessandro Sanchez Zaccari. Fellow seniors Sebastian Felice and Pablo Lopez de Ayala follow him in the lineup.
“They are bigger and stronger than they were for us last year,” Kontos said of his seniors.
The No. 4 singles player is a newcomer, junior Sergio
Balsamo. At No. 5 singles is Pedro Ribas, a junior who didn’t quite make the roster last year but has since improved.
Ribas’ improvement has pushed Christian Zaki to No. 2 doubles, where he has been successful.
The second-seeded
MAST girls, meanwhile, are much younger than their male counterparts.
MAST’s girls beat Bishop Moore, 4-1, on Monday, and they will play thirdseeded Jacksonville Bolles in Tuesday’s state semifinals.
Kontos’ top four girls are freshmen: Isabella Porto; Micaela Tarazona; Valentina Palanda; and Nila Nahauz.
Eighth-grader Daniela Sanchez Zaccari is the team’s No. 5 singles player, and her brother is MAST’s top boys’ player.
“Daniela is also a soccer player, which has her in great shape for tennis,” Kontos said. “When she’s on the court, she gets everything back.”
MORE 4A TENNIS
Doral Academy’s boys beat Gainesville Buchholz, 4-0. Doral will play West Boca Raton in Tuesday’s state semifinals.
As for Doral’s girls’ team, eighth-grader Payton Seidle-Lubowitz was outMAST standing, defeating Jupiter’s Gianna Panaggio in a three-set classic, 7-5, 2-6, 10-3, to advance to the state semifinal in singles. Seidle-Lubowitz then teamed up with fellow eighth-grader Stefany Zamora to win in No. 1 doubles, beating Celebration’s Diana Perez and Valeria Lopez, 7-5, 6-3.
The Doral duo overcame a 5-2 deficit in the first set.
Cypress Bay’s boys’ team beat Winter Park
4-2. Cypress Bay’s boys will play Lake Nona in Tuesday’s state semifinals. Cypress Bay’s No. 1 singles player, Laura Kamil, lost to Jupiter’s Gianna Panaggio, 6-1, 6-1.
Palmetto’s girls beat Wellington, 4-2. Palmetto will play Tampa Steinbrenner on Tuesday in the state semifinals.
Palmetto’s No. 1 singles player Mia Sorrentino has been injured since the regional finals, and her status for Tuesday is in doubt.
Pine Crest’s No. 1 boys’ doubles team of Koray Abramson and Ashwin Chawla advanced to the state semifinals by beating their rivals from Somerset, 6-4, 6-3.