| Spartan Booster Club Varsity Tennis 08/09 |
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| Varsity 07/08 Season click here |
| Girls Natalie Dolan Haley Goren Julia Hatridge Chelsea Kaplun Joanne Lee Jacinta Leyden Safia Mabizari Sequoia Owens Monica Pieratt Catherine Weitzel Hannah Yancy Sarah Yancy |
| Boys Jason Courson Rohan Dwivedi Young Kim Hanjun Lee Nathan Lo Matt Moreman Harish Narayana Paul Nguyen Ben Rohnia Blake Schreiber Johannes VanLeggelo Padilla Kevin Wang Jared Whitaker Young Lee Yoo |
| Varsity 08/09 Roster |
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| April 15th update: The tennis team competed in the District Championships last week at Memorial Park. True to form, we played some very exciting tennis and came away with a lot to be proud of. Due to the large number of players involved, I will summarize the results rather than write my traditional report. If you see the initials JVGD for example, that would mean junior varsity girls doubles if you are trying to decipher. Our players did an outstanding job in not losing a match to anyone in the field outside of Strake and Memorial, which is no easy feat. Once again, we will be advancing players to the Regional Championships which represent the top 16 singles players or doubles teams from an initial pool of 128 players or teams: The team results: Girls Varsity 1st – Stratford (this marks back to back spring district titles for the girls) 2nd – Memorial Boys Varsity 1st – tied/ Strake and Memorial 2nd – Stratford Individual Medal Winners Varsity Monica Pieratt – Champion VGS and 1st Team All-District – Regional Qualifier (Monica was a state quarterfinalist in doubles last year) Chelsea Kaplun – Finalist VGS and 1st Team All-District – Regional Qualifier Julia Hatridge/Jacinta Leyden – Champion VGD and 1st Team All-District – Regional Qualifier (Julia was the district singles champ last year) Hannah Yancy/Sequoia Owens – 4th VGD and 2nd Team All-District Sarah Yancy/Young Yoo -3rd VMD and 2nd Team All-District – Regional Alternate Nathan Lo/Catherine Weitzel – 4th VMD and 2nd Team all-District Also, we now have a team of twenty volunteers representing Stratford tennis in the upcoming Special Olympics Tennis Championships. It is obvious that our program recognizes service to others as a high calling. Good Job volunteers. Go Spartans! March 11th update: This was a busy weekend for Coach Frazee as he was the director of the Spring Branch ISD Varsity Tennis Invitational. We hosted over 500 players in the 32 team draw, with 10 of the teams holding state rankings in fall team tennis. Anyone who notched wins was having a good day. Given the strength of the field, we had an outstanding tournament and are consistently putting up good results in our doubles play which has been a major focus this spring. Monica Pieratt led all varsity players by reaching the finals of the "A" division in singles. Harish Narayana recovered from his first round loss in "A" singles to reach the finals in consolation. Blake Schrieber upset the #5 seed in the first round, winning a dramatic third set tie-breaker 13-11. Johannes van Leggelo-Padilla also recorded a first round victory in singles play. Mixed Doubles action saw Young Yoo teaming with Sarah Yancy and almost making their second consecutive appearance in a tournament finals with a narrow three set loss to Seven Lakes in the semifinals. Sister Hannah Yancy found herself with a new partner in Chelsea Kaplun while her traditional partner was healing an infection. The combination was solid as they reached the semifinals of their division. Safia Mabizari teamed with Joanne Lee to grab the second place trophy in the "C" Doubles division. Jason Courson and Matt Moreman came back from a first round loss to reach the finals in the "A" consolation bracket. Jared Whitaker and Hanjun Lee posted a nifty 10-8 third set tiebreaker win over 4A regional finalists Foster before dropping their next match to the tournament winners from Klein. All but one Stratford entry was able to record at least one win in a very competitive tournament. Congratulations to all players as we continue to prove we can play with the best! March 4th update: The varsity completed a very successful week of tennis by all teams when they competed in the Humble ISD Invitational this past weekend. Our doubles play, which we have been working very hard on in practice was particularly noteworthy. Our mixed doubles team of Sarah Yancy and Young Yoo powered their way to second place in the “B” division with straight set wins over Atascocita, Kingwood and Clear Brook. In the finals, they staged a gutsy comeback after being down 5-2 in the third to force the deciding set into a tiebreaker, which was narrowly won by Cy Woods. In other doubles action, Sequoia Owens and Hannah Yancy followed up their consolation championship at Ft. Bend by reaching the semifinals of the main draw where they eventually lost to Clear Creek. In the “A” division, Monica Pieratt teamed with Jacinta Leyden to reach the semifinals, where they faced a team from Clear Creek who had beaten them earlier this year by a good margin. Our girls proved much tougher this time around. Unfortunately, with Creek up 7-6 in the second set tie-breaker, a highly controversial call ended our opportunity to force the match into a third and deciding set. On the boys side, Matt Moreman teamed with Kevin Wang to recover from a first round loss to the eventual tournament champions to beat their next three opponents and reach the finals of consolation where they dispatched Ft. Bend Austin 8-2 with a crisp attacking style of play. Rounding out the doubles efforts were the “A” mixed team of Harish Narayana and Chelsea Kaplun who had a solid win over Clear Brook (winning the third set tiebreaker 10-8) before succumbing to the #2 seeds from Cy Woods in the quarterfinal round. All in all, the tournament proved to be very rewarding for the team and congratulations go out to all players who competed. This week will see the varsity competing in our own invitational on Friday and Saturday. February 25th update: The Spartan Tennis Team wants to share our results from the Clear Lake Invitational this past Friday and Saturday. The Spartans performed very well in their first spring invitational which featured 32 teams from across the greater Houston area. Leading all Stratford entries was the doubles team of Monica Pieratt and Jacinta Leyden who reached the semifinals in "A" doubles before falling to the #1 seeds from Katy Taylor. Our girls had a big quarterfinal win when they defeated the team from Clear Lake who had played in the finals of the Whataburger Invitational in Corpus the previous weekend. Our singles entries, Julia Hatridge and Catherine Weitzel both had an honorable tournament in reaching the quarterfinals in their divisions. The doubles team of Hannah Yancy and Sequoia Owens rebounded from a third set tie break loss to Friendswood in the first round to power their way back to first place in the consolation bracket of "B" doubles. Playing textbook doubles, the team swept three different opponents in straight sets. Our "A" mixed doubles team of Paul Nguyen and Chelsea Kaplun will play for the consolation championship on Monday at Cinco Ranch. Our other mixed doubles team of Sarah Yancy and Young Yoo reached the quarterfinals. Matt Young teamed with Kevin Wang in reversing a fall loss to Montgomery by beating them in straight sets this time around. Our other boys doubles team of Jason Courson and Nathan Lo spanked a New Caney team 6-1, 6-1 before bowing to the seeded team from Clear Lake in the second round. All in all, a respectable first tournament - congratulations to all who competed. Next up for the varsity is participation in the Humble ISD Invitational this comming Friday. February 18th update: Last Thursday, the Lady Spartans played host to Duschene Academy. It was fun to take on a team coached by a former Stratford player, Shirley Mendoza. Shirley was a top notch player when she was here. She was ranked #12 in Texas her senior year, qualified for the State Championships and went on to represent the University of Wyoming woman’s team on an athletic scholarship. She and her husband have recently launched a boutique line of tennis clothing called K-Claw which they are hoping will become very popular. Our girls had a good day and delivered a 4-3 loss to Duschene, based on a sweep of all doubles matches played. Congratulations to: Monica Pieratt/Jacinta Leyden, Sequoia Owens/Hannah Yancy, Sarah Yancy/Joanne Lee and Safia Mabizari/Haley Goren for their contributions to the victory. Chelsea Owens pushed her singles opponent, who is qualified in USTA super-champs to a third set super tie-breaker where she was narrowly defeated in an outstanding display of tennis talent. Good job girls! Next week will be very busy, with almost every player in the program seeing some action: Tues, Feb 24: Katy JV Invitational Wed, Feb 25: Ft. Bend Freshman Invitational Friday, Feb. 27: Humble Varsity Invitational February 9th update: The varsity tennis team opened their spring season by hosting Clear Creek at Stratford on Thursday, Feb. 5. The Spartans were excellent in singles play, taking three out of four matches. Notching singles victories were senior Julia Hatridge, sophomore Johannes Van Leggelo-Padilla and freshman Blake Schreiber. Our team was not as fortunate in doubles, as a talented Creek squad that is ranked #22 in Texas was able to sweep the seven contested matches. The girl’s team will next host Duchesne Thursday, February 12th at Stratford beginning at 4:00PM, so come on out and enjoy the action! USTA NEWS: Several Stratford players were busy this weekend in United States Tennis Association events across the state. The Houston Tennis Association sponsored their first ZAT of the year. Kudos go to Haley Goren who won her first round in convincing fashion before extending the #4 seed to three sets in the round of 16. Jared Whitaker powered his way to the semifinals where he was stopped by the eventual tournament champion in a competitive match. Zach Barth notched a win before losing to a high seed in the round of 16. Out in Deer Park, Blake Schreiber and Johannes Van Leggelo-Padilla competed in a Championship Major Zone. Blake recovered from a first round defeat to notch wins in the back draw while Johannes won his first round before falling in the round of 16. Down in Corpus Christi, Monica Pieratt was competing in a Super-Championship Major Zone where she advanced to the round of 16. Congratulations to all of these players as they go the “extra mile” to be the best players that they can be! October 22nd update: A big hurrah goes to senior Julia Hatridge, who was honored yesterday to receive a Reliant Powerzone Scholar-Athlete Award. Reliant Energy in conjunction with the Houston Texans selects eight students from Houston each year for this award which celebrates leadership, service and outstanding performance on and off the court. Julia received a check for $1,000.00 by Darrius Walker of the Houston Texans and Reliant Energy. In addition, she will be featured in a pre-game celebration on the field in an upcoming Texan game. Julia has held several positions in the National Charity League, is one of the editors of the school newspaper, is the defending district singles tennis champion and is on track to graduate as high school co-valedictorian. She was also recently honored with a "Makes a Difference Award" sponsored by the Houston Realtors Association. The whole tennis team is so proud and cannot think of a better ambassador for what the Stratford community tries to achieve with their young people. Way to go Julia! October 5th update: Last week was very busy for Spartan Tennis: Monday saw the Varsity traveling to Northbrook to take on the Raiders in a district match. The Spartans swept Northbrook 19-0 and played to their potential with all matches being won in straight sets. Wednesday was not as kind to the varsity score wise, as we wound up on the receiving end of an 11-6 victory for Memorial, who is ranked #11 in Texas by the Texas Tennis Coaches Association. Despite the loss, our players may have played their best tennis of the fall so far. The score remained close with the Mustangs holding a slight 4-3 lead coming out of the doubles. Our girls continued to notch singles wins, while the guys battled against one of the best boys teams in Houston. Julia Hatridge, Jacinta Leyden and Natalie Dolan dropped their opponents for a loss to keep us in the hunt. Although our boys had more difficulty, kudos go to Jason Courson who lost a very competitive match to a player who is the defending Regional champ 6-3, 6-4. Harish Narayana, playing in the #2 position, also made a top 25 player earn the win with a competitive 6-3, 6-3 end result. Good job team! The varsity will take on Spring Woods Friday, October 3rd at home. I expect to be able to report good things on this match next week. Our JV did their part as well, thumping Northbrook 19-0 yesterday at the house. The team was dominating, as all wins were in straight sets with most scores going 6-0 or 6- 1. Way to take care of business team. This week will be equally busy. : Monday, October 6: Junior Varsity vs. Memorial at Memorial. Tuesday, October 7: Varsity vs. Elsik at Stratford Thursday, October 9: Junior Varsity vs. Elsik at Elsik. Saturday, October 11: Varsity, Junior Varsity and some Freshman vs. Montgomery at Montgomery. We will be bussing 50 players up to Montgomery for an all day event. This should be a whole lot of fun with all three teams getting to hang out and compete on the same day. October 1st update: This past week found our varsity team in competition with Alief Hastings on Thursday and Katy High School on Friday. Both matches resulted in convincing wins with the Spartans defeating the Bears on Thursday 18-1 and the Tigers on Friday 16-3. Natalie Dolan, playing in the number 1 position, kept her undefeated streak alive with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Hastings. Johannes Van Leggelo also kept his unbeaten singles streak alive with a dramatic three set win over Katy on Friday. Despite some shaky doubles play on Friday, the boy's teams recovered nicely to post several close or come from behind victories in singles play. Kudos to Blake Schreiber, Jared Whitaker, Harish Narayana, Kevin Wang and Jason Courson for their solid play. Chelsea Kaplun, Jacinta Leyden and Julia Hatridge also turned in impressive singles wins over quality opponents. Good Job team! September 10th update: Congratulations to the varsity tennis team who opened regular season district play with a convincing 19-0 shut out of Alief Taylor yesterday at the Stratford courts. 24 players combined to deliver the win for the Stratford with 18 of the 19 matches won in straight sets. A notable team statistic is the fact that the varsity combined to win 214 individual games while yielding just 28 games. In additional news, Johannes defeated the #1, #4 and #6 seeded players in his draw to reach the finals of the USTA Clear Lake Champ Major Zone this past Saturday. We are off to a nice start in our new 18- 5A athletic alignment! Varsity had a rougher start as they traveled to Dulles to participate in the Ft. Bend TTCA Invitational on Friday morning. Dulles fielded their strongest team in ten years and handed us a 12-4 loss. The afternoon had us paired up with Cy Falls who are favored to win their district championships this year. The teams battled to a 9-9 tie, with one remaining match to play to decide the victor. It was not our day, as the match went to a dramatic third set tie-break won 10-8 by Cy Falls. The team returned to action Saturday morning where they hosted=2 0Corpus Christi King at the Stratford courts. This time, it was our turn as we recorded a final score of 11-8. Good finish Varsity! |
