Sports

Lady Vikings tennis wins regional championship, punches ticket to state

The Vikings clinched the regional championship with a 4-0 win over Eastside in Gainesville, earning a return trip to the state tournament.

Jared Williams

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The Fort Walton Beach High School girls tennis team is headed back to state.

The Lady Vikings captured the Region 1-2A championship on Thursday with a 4-0 win over Eastside in Gainesville, clinching the match before singles play at the No. 3, 4 and 5 spots needed to be completed.

It is the second consecutive regional title for Fort Walton Beach, which won its first in 26 years last spring.

Head Coach Pat Markey‘s squad will now travel to Seminole County for the FHSAA State Championships, set for April 27 through May 1 at Sanlando Park, Red Bug Lake Park and Sylvan Lake Park.

The No. 1 doubles team of junior Penelope Gordon and senior Reese Armstrong opened the afternoon with a dominant 4-0, 4-0 win. The No. 2 doubles team of seniors Katie Eubanks and Gabriella (Gigi) Biro had a tougher road, dropping the first set 2-4 before fighting back to take the second set 4-1 and winning the tiebreaker 10-6.

It was a familiar script for Eubanks and Biro. Earlier this season, Markey described the duo’s doubles play as the best of their four-year careers and said the No. 2 doubles spot could be the deciding factor in the postseason.

“Oftentimes that’s how you win a match with the better teams — you might split it with the singles, but if you can win both double teams, you’re going to win all the time,” Markey said ahead of the district tournament.

In singles play, Gordon, who was named Get The Coast’s Athlete of the Week, won at No. 1 with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Eastside’s Tejaswi Yatham. Armstrong followed at No. 2 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Sarah Yan, giving Fort Walton Beach its fourth point and ending the match.

The regional title caps a season in which the Vikings went undefeated in the regular season for the second straight year and compiled a 79-18 individual match record across the roster. Senior Mary Grace Walker rounded out the starting five in the No. 5 singles spot Thursday.

Fort Walton Beach will look to build on last year’s state appearance when play begins Monday in Seminole County. Admission to the state tournament is free.

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