No State Title, But Streak Still Alive

Destiny Okungbowa (Photo: John C. Cotey)

When it comes to dynasties, the Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) boys tennis team has all the characteristics.

The Bulls rarely lose, collecting more than a dozen conference and district championships.

They make it to the State championships on a regular basis, including winning State titles in 2014 and 2015 and a runner-up finish last year.

The Bulls never rebuild; they simply seem to reload year after year.

“We’ve had a good run,’’ says coach and school athletic director Dave Wilson.

Good? Try great.

On the way to another District title this season, and a pair of Regional playoff wins over Lakeland and Strawberry Crest, the Bulls again ended their season in Orlando at the Class 4A State championships, falling in the quarterfinals to Olympia High.

And The Streak remained alive. Since losing a match to Land O’Lakes in 2010, the Bulls have now run off 125 consecutive regular season wins.

“It’s a good feeling, because you’re always playing for something,’’ says junior captain Destiny Okungbowa, who plays No. 1 and 2 singles for the Bulls. “But, the streak is always in the back of our minds. It’s like a chip on our shoulder because everyone is gunning to be the team to end that streak. So, it kind of keeps you focused and locked in on the moment.”

Kinishkh Ramesh (Photo: John C. Cotey)

Wilson does not stress keeping the streak alive to his team, but he doesn’t have to.  Three of his current players — Okungbowa, sophomore Kinishkh Ramesh and Josh Abrams — all had brothers on the team who are more than willing to remind their younger siblings of the legacy.

“I’m competitive with my brothers,” says Destiny, the younger sibling of Courage, who played for a State title in 2012, and Foresight, who was on the 2014 and 2015 State champions and, Destiny says, “is always bragging about it. So yeah, I want to keep the streak.’’

In their season finale, the Bulls edged Tampa powerhouse Jesuit 4-3 (teams play five singles and two doubles lines in a match) at the Sports Club at Hunter’s Green Country Club. Ramesh and Okungbowa won at No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively, and teamed up at No. 1 doubles for a 7-5, 6-3 win. The fourth line was won by Abrams, who has never lost a high school singles match, with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 5.

Jesuit was missing its top player, or The Streak might now be over.

“I thought this year when we played Jesuit, they probably would have beat us if they brought everybody,” Wilson says. “In some ways, it would be nice to be done with it so we wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

Because he has to worry about it, though, Wilson must remember to bring enough of his better players to every match to ensure a win. Otherwise, he would be able to get additional playing time for some of his reserves.

“They all know we have the streak and they don’t want to be — and now, they are not going to be — the team that lost the streak,” Wilson says. “That’s why it’s a big deal to them, more than anything else.”

There may be no end in sight, either.

Ramesh, who was 14-0 in singles and 8-0 in doubles this year, and Okungbowa (14-1 and 11-0) are the two best players, and both return next season. Adam Mansour is a 6-foot-3 freshman who was 11-1 at line 3 singles, and is only getting better, and Abrams (16-0 at singles) is coming back as well.

“Based on what is coming back,’ says Wilson, “I expect us to make another run (at a State championship) next year.”

Freedom’s Gibson Cruising Through High School Competition

Freedom sophomore tennis standout Julianna Gibson has been playing the sport since she was five years old, and so far has been unbeatable during her high school career as the No. 1 player at Freedom High in Tampa Palms. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

Freedom High tennis player Julianna Gibson doesn’t race across the tennis court, she glides.

Her forehand and backhand aren’t harried, they are harmonious.

Her demeanor isn’t delirious, it is docile.

It all works together to make Gibson one of the top high school tennis players around.

Last year, as a freshman, she played line 1 (where typically the best players at each school line up) and went 14-0 in singles, winning District and Regional titles on her way to the State tournament.

She kicked off her sophomore season on Valentine’s Day by winning 8-0 against Gaither in singles, and teaming up with Zoe Rosen for another 8-0 win at doubles. She is 4-0 so far this season.

“I think it’s gone pretty smoothly,” Julianna says of her brief high school career. “A few of the matches were pretty competitive, but I have gotten through most of them pretty easily.”

Gibson has been playing tennis since she was 5. Her parents, Mike and Carri-Ann, say Julianna tried a number of sports, like soccer and volleyball and even earned a black belt in Tae Kwan Do.

“I coached her Little League softball team, and she was a really good hitter and threw really well,” Carri-Ann says. “I thought, “We might have a softball player here.’

But, Julianna gravitated to tennis. Carri-Ann and Mike remember Julianna running around and chasing balls to hit as a toddler while her parents played.

Despite having physical gifts — Julianna is 5-feet, 9-inches tall with a long reach — that lend themselves to almost any sport, none had the amount of action to keep his daughter’s attention like tennis, according to Mike.

“She took to tennis like a fish to water,” he says. “It was a sport she seemed she could really get into. I remember she said in tennis, the ball comes right back to you and you get another chance. It’s a constant engagement. You have to be constantly engaged when you’re playing tennis.”

As an only child, Julianna said she enjoys the individual aspect of playing singles. She started out in playing in the USTA’s Junior Team Tennis leagues, but most USTA junior tournaments focus on singles.

The competition can range from friendly to fierce. Many of the opponents Julianna has faced in her junior career are training 5-6 hours a day at expensive and prestigious academies away from their families.

The Gibsons prefer a more balanced approach. Julianna has hopes for playing in college, and does train with personal coaches, but she says her obsession for being a professional tennis star takes a back seat to enjoying her high school years.

And so far, she says she has been enjoying them.

“It’s nice playing on a team with other girls, and cheering them on,” Julianna says. “I like that part of it.”

Her height and long frame give Julianna an advantage over most opponents when it comes to serving and her forehand, her two strengths.

Still More To Accomplish

That helped catapult her to her unbeaten season last year, and the Patriots advanced to the Class 3A Regionals as the District runner-up.

Gibson won her singles match at Regionals against Largo, with her opponent remarking that she couldn’t believe Julianna was only a freshman.

At States, Julianna lost her first match 7-5, 6-2 to Fort Myers’ sophomore lefty Shani Idlette, still the only blemish on Julianna’s high school record.

“It was a lot more competitive there,” says Julianna, who says she was sick the week of the match. “I lost, but it was pretty competitive.”

Her main goal for this season is to make it back to States, but she doesn’t plan on going alone.

“I want the whole team to go,” says Julianna. “The one thing I thought when I was there last year was that this would be more fun as a team.”

Wiregrass Ranch High Boys Tennis Falls In State Championship Final

The Wiregrass Ranch High tennis team poses with the state runner-up from last week’s Class 4A state championships in Altamonte Springs.

The Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) boys tennis team, arguably the most successful athletic program in Pasco County the past few seasons, fell just short of winning a third State tennis championship in five seasons.

The Bulls, champions in 2014 and 2015, fell to Parkland Stoneman Douglas High 4-1 in the Class 4A championship match on April 27 in Altamonte Springs. Noah Makarome, who was undefeated in his previous two singles matches, and Destiny Okungbowa were both playing their first sets when the match was called after Douglas clinched the title with their fourth win (out of seven lines).

Josh Abrams, the Bulls No. 5 singles player, pulled out the only victory for WRH in the final by defeating Jabari Cole 6-1, 2-6, 11-9, to finish 3-0 on the week.

The Bulls fell behind quickly when Douglas captured both doubles matches in convincing straight sets.

Wiregrass Ranch, which is 111-2 in head-to-head matches since 2010, during which time it hasn’t lost a Pasco County match, had to battle hard to reach the finals.

In the state quarterfinals April 26, it defeated Fleming Island 4-1, as Makarome won 6-4, 6-1, at No. 1 singles, Jared and Josh Abrams picked up wins at Nos. 4 and 5 singles and Kanishkh Ramesh  and Okungbowa won at No. 2 doubles with a 4-6, 6-4, 10-2 victory.

The semifinals, played earlier on the same day as the finals, saw the Bulls defeat Tampa’s George Steinbrenner High  4-2 with the same combination of winners.

Makarome, who has signed to play at the University of Pennsylvania next year, defeated Nicholas Cary 6-3, 6-1, at No. 1 singles, and the Abrams brothers both won their singles matches, with Jared winning 6-4, 6-0, at No. 4, and Josh winning 6-0, 6-0, at No. 5.

Ramesh and Okungbowa won at No. 2 doubles 6-4, 6-3. The title was the first for the Douglas High tennis team.

U.S. Fed Cup Team Hoping To Knock Off Champs At Saddlebrook Next Weekend

(From left to right) United States’ Kayla Day, Coach Lisa Raymond, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Alison Riske, Shelby Rogers, CoCo Vandeweghe and Captain Kathy Rinaldi after clinching the overall victory over Germany at the 2017 Fed Cup tie between the United States and Germany in Maui, HI on February 12. (Photo: Andrew Ong/USTA)

Putting together a Federation Cup team is akin to fielding a lineup in almost any sport.

You find the best players, who are currently playing the best, who have earned the right to be out there, and you put them on the court.

For United State Fed Cup first-time captain Kathy Rinaldi, that means Coco Vandeweghe, Shelby Rogers, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lauren Davis.

Rinaldi selected her team last week during a stop at Saddlebrook Resort, which will host the Federation Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Semifinal this weekend in front of what could be a sellout crowd.

A temporary 3,500-seat stadium will be constructed around one of the resort’s Har-Try Classic Green Clay courts.

Kevin O’Connor, president of Saddlebrook International Sports, said Saddlebrook’s reputation, combined with a tennis community buoyed by active USTA programs at Hunter’s Green, Tampa Palms, Arbor Greene and West Meadows, made the area the perfect choice to host the event.

“This is the highest level of team tennis,’’ says O’Connor. “This is like what most of the local community does with the USTA team tennis. Imagine one of the best communities in the U.S. for organized tennis. To have the pinnacle of team events in your backyard, it’s a no brainer and very exciting.”

The best-of-five match series begins on Saturday with two singles matches beginning at 11:30 a.m.. Then, on Sunday, the teams will play two reverse singles matches beginning at 10:30 a.m., as well as the doubles match.

The semifinal showdown will feature one team, the U.S., trying to reclaim its former glory. The 17-time champion hasn’t won the Fed Cup since 2000.

One the other hand, the defending champ Czech Republic is trying to maintain its status as the best women’s team in the world, as winners of five of the last six titles.

The U.S. is 39-6 all-time in Fed Cup ties (or matches) played at home, and is 147-36 overall.

“The atmosphere for these matches will be electric,’’ Rinaldi says. “There’s something about playing for your country that brings out the best in the players. To see the fans, with their faces painted, the colored wigs
 to hear the national anthem, there’s nothing like it.”

A few weeks ago, Rinaldi, whose son Duke Stunkel Jr. is an outfielder for the University of South Florida baseball team, said her team was the clear underdog. But, that may have changed once the Czech Republic revealed it would be sending an inexperienced  lineup of Fed Cup reserves.

Already without two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who is still recovering from a December knife attack during a burglary that left her with an injured left hand, the Czechs also go without the other three players who led them to the Fed Cup title last year.

World No. 3 Karolina Pliskova, No. 18 Barbora Strycova and No. 2 doubles player Lucie Safarova have all declined to play, citing minor injuries or scheduling issues.

In their place, the Czech Republic is sending Pliskova’s twin sister Kristyna and Marketa Vondrousova, who will be making their Fed Cup debuts, and Katerina Siniakova and Denia Allertova, who have played one Fed Cup doubles match.

Siniakova is the highest rated of the Czechs, at No. 38, while Pliskova is No. 54. Allertova (107) and Vondrousova (233) are outside of the Top 100.

Ratings matter less, however, when you are playing for your country, Rinaldi says. Last year, the Netherlands, without a single player in the top 100, beat four-time champion Russia, which was competing with three players in the top 35, including Maria Sharapova.

Started in 1963 as the women’s version of the men’s Davis Cup, Federation Cup tennis is the world’s largest annual international team competition in women’s sports, as roughly 100 teams from across the globe compete. It is marked by patriotism and raucous, festive crowds who roundly cheer for their country, and the atmosphere is completely different from the typical intense quiet you might see on television. Loudly celebrating in between points is not only allowed, it is encouraged.

“You can really feel the enthusiasm,’’ Rinaldi said. “In Hawaii (for the U.S.’s 4-0 quarterfinal win over Germany), the fans were loud and behind us, and we expect it to be the same way at Saddlebrook.”

United States’ captain Kathy Rinaldi gets excited about a point at the 2017 Fed Cup tie between the United States and Germany in Maui, HI on February 11. (Photo: Andrew Ong/USTA)

Rinaldi, 49, reached the quarterfinals of the French Open as a 14-year-old and has trained at Saddlebrook.  A three-time winner on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour, and once ranked as high as No. 7 in the world, Rinaldi was working in player development for the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) when she was tasked with directing the Fed Cup team back to the top of the international heap after years of struggling.

Despite American tennis boasting the likes of Serena Williams, arguably the greatest player of all-time (and 16-1 in Fed Cup action), her sister Venus and more than a dozen top-100-ranked players, its shortcomings for more than a decade in the Fed Cup competition have been magnified in recent years by the absence of the top American women, mainly Serena and Venus currently ranked Nos. 2 and 12 respectively.

Even without the Williams sisters, or No. 10 Madison Keys, Rinaldi has secured the remaining top Americans. Vandeweghe is No. 24, Davis is 36 and Rogers is 49, moving up three spots after beating the top-seeded Keys and reaching the quarterfinals at the WTA’s Charleston stop April 3-5. Mattek-Sands is the No. 1 doubles player in the world,

“You want to try to find those players that are playing their best at the moment,’’ Rinaldi said. “You want to find players that you believe in, and American tennis has a lot of really good players and a lot that are playing really well right now. We currently have 18 in the top 100. That’s quite a number. Women’s tennis has really stepped up.”

The animated and fiery Vandeweghe, certain to be one of the crowd favorites this weekend, is playing the best tennis of her career.

She reached a career-high rating of No. 20 in the world earlier this year after her 2017 Australian Open, where she defeated then-world No. 1 Angelique Kerber before falling to Venus Williams in the semis.

Vandeweghe has won two WTA titles, and a doubles title as well, when she teamed with Mattek-Sands to win at Indian Wells in 2016.

This will be Vandeweghe’s sixth Fed Cup tie (or team match), and she is 3-0 in doubles  and 3-3 in singles.

Davis, who won her first WTA title this year, the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, is returning to Fed Cup for the first time since 2015, and is 1-0 in doubles and 0-1 in singles.

Rogers, who has reached two WTA quarterfinals this year, is playing in her second consecutive Fed Cup tie. She made her debut in Hawaii, teaming with Mattek-Sands in doubles.

Mattek-Sands became the No. 1-rated doubles player in the world in January with a win at Brisbane, followed by the Australian Open title. Mattek-Sands has 25 career WTA doubles titles, including the 2015 French Open and 2016 U.S. Open. She is undefeated in Fed Cup doubles action, winning all six of her matches, and is 2-6 in Fed Cup singles. She was on the last U.S. team to make the finals in 2010.

The winner at Saddlebrook advances to the Fed Cup final Nov. 11-12. It will meet the winner of the Belarus-Switzerland tie being played this weekend in Minsk, Belarus.

Tickets to the action at Saddlebrook were going fast but still available as of our press time. To try and purchase, visit USTA.com/fedcup or call (888) 334-USTA (8782).

Hunter’s Green Father-Son Duo Still Chasing Tennis Gold

Clint Bowles (left) and his father Jim pose with runner-up Silver Ball trophies from last month’s USTA National Clay Court Championships in Sarasota.

Hunter’s Green resident and local dentist Jim Bowles won a Big 8 doubles championship while playing for the University of Oklahoma (in Norman) in 1972, but 45 years later, he says it is his latest tennis quest that gives him the most pleasure.

One of Hunter’s Green Country Club’s best players, Bowles, 64, recently teamed up with his 28-year-old son Clint to finish second at the USTA National Father-Son clay court championships at The Landings Racquet Club in Sarasota.

For Jim and Clint, it was another tantalizingly close finish in their fifth attempt to win a Golden Ball together.

In 2012, their first year playing in national championship tournaments together, the duo finished second and won a Silver Ball. That was followed by consecutive consolation round wins and a Bronze Ball in 2015 after a third-place finish.

On Nov. 20, Jim and Clint made the final again before falling to Jerry and Brett Morse-Karzen of Wilmette, IL by a 6-4, 7-6 score. Jim says he and Clint didn’t convert on a couple of crucial break points in the second set, dooming their upset bid.

“Clint said, ‘Dad, we’re going to win one one of these days,’” Jim said, chuckling. “I said, ‘Well, let’s hurry up. The sun is setting.’”

It won’t be easy. The Morse-Karzens are the all-time leaders in USTA National Father-Son championships, have beaten the Bowles duo all four times they have met, and their win was their fourth straight national title on clay.

Oh, and there’s this: Jerry Morse-Karzen is 6 feet, 5 inches tall, and his son Brett is 6’10”.

Meanwhile, both Jim and Clint are around 5’9”.

“We call them the twin towers,’’ Jim said of the Morse-Karzen duo. “The son can just stand at the end and stretch out his arms and cover the whole court. It’s tough when you’re giving away that much height.”

But, the Bowles duo will keep on trying. It’s in the family’s blood — Jim’s wife Joy is also an accomplished tennis player, and younger son Spencer was a baseball standout at Wiregrass Ranch High before playing at Saint Leo University near Dade City.

Jim grew up in Shawnee, OK, playing football, baseball and basketball. A knee injury in junior high put him on the sidelines for awhile, and one of his substitute teachers talked him into giving tennis a try.

“He was like the pied piper of tennis,’’ Jim recalled. “He was the type of guy who stayed after you. If you didn’t show up for a while, he would call and ask you where you’ve been and tell you he had a kid there he thought could beat you.”

Jim says he never looked back after taking up tennis. While earning a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Oklahoma, he also played on the Sooners’ tennis team, where his serve-and-volley style helped win a Big 8 (now Big 12) championship in doubles.

When Clint was born, Jim started him on tennis almost immediately. However, because they were living in Wyoming at the time, the tennis competition was subpar, and Clint gravitated to his other favorite sport, hockey.

It wasn’t until the Bowles family moved to Hunter’s Green 21 years ago that Clint’s tennis talent fully emerged.

After spending some time at the Saddlebrook Tennis Academy, Clint ended up training under renowned coach Nick Saviano, a former Stanford University All-American who has coached Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) stars Sloane Stephens and Eugenie Bouchard and other top players.

Within four months of training with Saviano, Clint, a lefty with what Jim proudly calls “world-class baseline strokes,” captured his first Gold Ball, winning the national clay court title in the 14-year-old division in 2003.

In 2005, Clint was 16 years old when he captured his second Gold Ball, winning the 18s on the hard courts. In 2007, he won another national clay court title in the 18s before attending Florida State University in Tallahassee.

As a Seminole, Clint was named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference team twice while finishing third on FSU’s all-time singles wins list with 92.

With Jim — who also earned his D.D.S. degree from the University of Oklahoma Dental School — working as a dentist at Family, Implant & Cosmetic Dentistry in The Walk at Highwoods Preserve, and Clint teaching at Saviano High Performance Tennis in Fort Lauderdale, tennis time together is sparse.

The times they get to play together at nationals, Jim says, are special.

“It’s a chance to spend some quality time with him and re-connect,’’ Jim says. “We have a great time. We laugh on the court…we’ll look at each other funny if one of us hits a weird shot. I really enjoy it.”

Jim pauses for a second, and then smiles, adding, “Then again, when you win something, it’s even more fun.”

“We really, really look forward to it every year,’’ Clint says. “We get to play in a super national tournament against the best in our age group, it’s really close to home and it’s my birthday week. That makes it a great trip.”

Having won three Silver Balls together, Jim says that Clint is working hard at getting him his first gold one.

“Quite honestly, in the middle years (at the USTA Nationals where the tandem won the consolation bracket and finished third) Clint wasn’t really playing that much and wasn’t all that fired up to play,’’ Jim says. “But this year, he was highly motivated. He practiced, he’d call me and ask, “Hey dad, how are you doing? You practicing? How’s your serve?’”

Jim admits that his best chance to win a Gold Ball probably was the first year he and Clint competed together. They lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. They also finished second that year at the hard court finals in California.

After this year’s narrow loss in the final, Clint texted his dad and promised he’d get him a championship.

“The father-son doubles, it just creates a special bond between the father and son,’’ Clint says. “It’s really fun to go out and play with him. It makes it that much more enjoyable to play for him, try to win it (with) him.”

He adds, “I promised him we’re going to win at least one Gold Ball. Now I have to live up to that promise and follow through on it.”