The Fountain Hills tennis squad continues its trek through the state tournament with the boys besting Florence in team play and the girls falling to Pusch Ridge in the opening round.

In individual play, doubles partners Haley Braun/Jena Serrano exited the tournament in the quarterfinals, as did Jenny Fisher in singles.

Matt Fisher went onto the semi-finals, eventually taking third place overall.

As an added bonus, the results are finally in and it has been determined that both the boys and girls teams ended the season as sectional champs.

The boys continued their trip through the post season this past Tuesday, April 30, with a game against Safford.

With the girls’ season all wrapped up, coach Jean Serrano said the squad will be saying goodbye to three seniors in Tana Dooley, Kaitlyn Abramczyk and Nava Sadeghi.

“Tana was a four-year varsity competitor and her recent shoulder injury knocked her out of state individual competition,” Serrano added.

“Kaitlyn was a three- year varsity competitor having finally recovered from her shoulder injury last year. This was Nava’s first year with the varsity tennis team.”

Once the boys conclude their state run, the team will bid farewell to Dominick Cocciola and Matt Fisher, both four-year varsity players.

Serrano and Coach Larry Schmit said the team will miss all of its seniors very much.

Boys state

The team state competition began last Tuesday, April 23, for the boys, taking on Florence in the first round.

The guys made short work of the Gophers, however, going on to win 5-0.

Winning matches in singles play were Matt Fisher, Tim Schlum, Matt Siewert and Dominick Cocciola.

Reid Sanchez and Dillon Nash were in the middle of their matches when the doubles results came in, ending the round in favor of the Falcons.

Doubles winners were Fisher/Cocciola. The remaining doubles teams did not have to play as this win earned the Falcons their requisite five victories to go on to the next round.

Girls state

The following day, April 25, the girls hosted a tough team from Pusch Ridge.

“We knew we were in for a battle even though we were the number four seed going against the number 13 seed,” Serrano said.

“Their number one gal took third place twice in state and their number two took second place in doubles last year.”

The Falcons went on to lose 5-1.

Kaitlyn Abramczyk was the only Falcon to claim a win on the day, going 6-0, 5-0 in singles play. Jenny Fisher, Rochelle Skoog, Haley Braun, Katie Paulson and Jena Serrano all suffered a defeat.

Individuals

Onto the quarterfinals for individual state competition and doubles partners Haley Braun and Jena Serrano got off to a rocky start, according to coach Serrano.

“Haley broke a string on her racquet in the second game,” Serrano said.

“She borrowed a racquet from a teammate, but it always takes some time to adjust to someone else’s racquet.”

The girls went on to lose to their Safford opponents, 6-0, 6-1.

Jenny Fisher played in the quarterfinals for individuals and, once again, Serrano said the Falcon started off slowly.

“She was just getting into a rhythm when she lost, 6-3, 6-4,” the coach said.

Finally, Matt Fisher went on to play in the individual tournament, battling sickness and broken strings on multiple racquets along the way.

Fisher ended beating a player from Pusch Ridge, losing to the number two seed from Phoenix Christian and finally winning a game against an opponent from St. Gregory before claiming his spot at number three.