Coronado advances to regional tennis finals

Heather Cory

Coronado’s Mitchell Smith reaches out to return the ball during the Sunrise Regional Championship boys’ tennis tournament against Green Valley Tuesday at Coronado High School.

By Jared Harmon (contact)

Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 | 7:05 p.m.

The Coronado Cougars boys' tennis team moved into the Sunrise Regional finals with a 14-4 semifinal victory against visiting Green Valley High on Tuesday.

Coronado will face the Foothill Falcons, which narrowly beat Silverado 10-9 in the day's other semifinal match. The two Henderson area schools will meet at 6 p.m. Friday at the Darling Tennis Center.

While experience would seem to favor the Cougars, the two-time defending Sunrise champions, Coronado coach Luther Bohanan said the Cougars won't overlook any opponent. Coronado beat Foothill 16-2 on Sept. 23 for the Falcons' lone loss.

"Everything starts over at regionals," Bohanan said. "We just have to stay consistent and make Foothill hit more balls than us while we try to make less mistakes than they do."

Coronado had three doubles teams go 2-0 to beat Green Valley. In singles, Bohanan said his players gained valuable experience from competing against defending state champion, Green Valley's Evan Song.

"I'm proud of the way we played today and especially against Song," Bohanan said. "We haven't really faced a kid with that kind of talent all season and it's always good to see that before you head into a big match."

If the Cougars are going to three-peat, Bohanan said seniors Matt Gapultos, Colton Pate and Elliott King will have to guide underclassmen like Brian Foley, Mitchell Smith and Matthew Dees.

"We have a good mixture of guys who have been there before and up-and-coming freshmen," he said. "We have three seniors who have been with me at least three years and have been to the state tournament. I need them to help the younger guys focus so that won't have any jitters."

Gapultos, who 2-1 in singles against Green Valley, is looking forward to competing for a third title.

"We'll probably feel a little pressure, but the seniors have had two years to overcome it," Gapultos said. "I think we need to focus on cheering on the rest of the team because they can use our support."

Foothill coach Mark Richards said he saw a competitive fire in the Falcons' match with Silverado that they will need to carry over if they want to dethrone the Cougars.

The match with Silverado was tied at nine before the Falcons prevailed in the tie-breaker when their No. 3 doubles team of senior Cody Souza and junior Evan Roquemore won a set to take the decisive point.

"We anticipated it was going to be a close match and we knew we were going to need someone to step up and have a big day," Richards said. "Our doubles have been real strong for us down the stretch and today was no different."

The doubles team of brothers Danny and Kevin Dion went 3-0 for the Falcons, as did seniors David Witt and Nick Gegen. Richards said both teams will have to continue to dig deep and play their best to compete with the Cougars.

"We have to just relax and go in with the mindset that Coronado is beatable," Richards said. "We sometimes tend to put them on a pedestal and get nervous. We just have to focus and play tennis."

Jared Harmon can be reached at 990-8922 or jared.harmon@hbcpub.com.