Indian Springs falls short of repeat

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Indian Springs School was hoping for a repeat of their Class 3A-1A boys tennis state championship Thursday in Jacksonville, however such hope came to an end when defending state champion Arie Heftner was upset in No. 1 singles.

Anderson Reed of Bayside Academy downed Heftner in two sets, 6-3 and 6-3, on his way to the No. 1 singles title.

&8220;I knew Arie was going to have a hard time, because his draw was so bad,&8221; head coach Boo Mason said.

However, Indian Springs did not go undecorated, as they captured individual state championships in No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles.

Faris Pacha rallied back from a 6-2 loss in the first set to blank Randolph County&8217;s Anthony Lioce in the second set 6-0 and win the state title 6-2 in set three.

&8220;He listened and made adjustments and came back and won. Everybody was kind of down, because we knew we couldn&8217;t win (the team title), but he pulled it together. I think that match was a big turning point for him mentally,&8221; Mason said.

Bryan Song thought he had the No. 2 singles championship wrapped up after fighting back to take the second set 6-3 against Randolph&8217;s Dan Richardson, who won the first set 7-5. But a call that Song thought was his on match point went to Richardson, who went up 6-5 and eventually won set three 7-5.

Song used his disappointment and anger to seek revenge against Richardson in doubles play, as he and doubles partner Patrick McGowan defeated Richardson and Blake Nuwayhad in three sets for the No. 2 doubles title.

&8220;Brian was super down from losing his singles match, because he felt like he&8217;d won it. I told him before the match, &8216;For us to finish second you have to win this.&8217;&8221; Mason said.

Song and McGowan pushed back after losing 6-3 in the first set to take the match 6-1 and 6-3.

The win tied ISS with Randolph for second place, as Montgomery Academy won the overall championship.

Girls Tennis

-Indian Springs&8217; Davis reaches finals: Natalie Davis led the ISS girls to a third-place finish on her way to the No. 3 singles finals. She finished runner-up to Alex Phipps 6-4 and 6-2.

-Spain Park doubles reach semifinals: The Lady Jaguars&8217; Renee Nicholas and Kelly Vaughn became the only Spain Park girls to break past round one at the Class 6A tournament in Mobile Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Fairhope.

They went on to win 6-1, 6-4 over Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa before falling to the eventual state champion duo of Taylor Lindsay and Cameron Richard from Vestavia Hills, 6-2, 7-5.