Boys tourney: Down to the wire

Two days weren't enough to settle things at the boys Class 2A-District 8 tennis tournament. The tournament will conclude today with the doubles finals and quite a bit will be at stake, as three teams sit within one point at the top of the team standings.

Lake Wales and Auburndale are tied at the top of the standings with 17 points each. Sebring is one point behind with 16.

All three schools in contention for the team title will have one team in action today.

Lake Wales' No. 1 team of Heath Williams and James Hignight will face Lake Placid's top team of Michael Sweat and Jerquaid Quinn. A Highlander victory would clinch at least a tie for the district title by Lake Wales, while if the Green Dragon duo can pull off the upset, the possibility of a three-way tie exists.

In No. 2 doubles, the Sebring team of Brian Miller and Nikhil Raghuveera will take on the Auburndale team of Mark Kalman and Alan Roberts. If Sebring wins the match, the Blue Streaks are guaranteed of playing another day. If the Bloodhounds' tandem wins the match, the Sebring season is over.

If the Blue Streaks emerge victorious, they would finish tied with Auburndale and depending on what happens with Lake Wales at No. 1 doubles, there exists the possibility of a three-way tie.

In the event of a three-way tie, all three schools would meet in a round-robin format. If two teams are tied, the two schools meet in a traditional head-to-head match.

The location of the tie-breaking match would be a neutral court chosen by the participating teams. The match would have to be played by Friday.

The Blue Streaks began the day in strong fashion, capturing a pair of singles titles and taking second in another.

Sebring's Kyle Komisar captured the No. 2 singles title, defeating Lake Placid's Jerquaid Quinn by a score of 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals and took a 6-4, 6-1 decision against Lake Wales' Williams in the finals..

Raghuveera laid claim to the No. 3 singles title, taking a 7-6, 6-0 victory over Hardee's James Bodeck and following that up with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Auburndale's Roberts.

Miller placed second at No. 4 singles, taking a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Lake Placid's Jacob Underwood in the semifinals, but falling to Auburndale's Matthew Jackson by a score of 6-3, 7-6 in the finals.

Andrew Midence came up just short in his No. 5 singles match, dropping a three-set decision in the quarterfinals to Auburndale's Mark Kalman.

Sebring coach Jack Holt said the team did well by taking two firsts and a second in singles and the points were definitely needed as the closeness of the top three teams became evident as the tournament moved along.

In No. 1 doubles, the team of Williams and Hignight was able to rally for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over the Blue Streaks' Mike Reed and Komisar, The Lake Wales tandem also knocked out the No. 1 Avon Park team, Sean Miller and Kyle Jahna.

At No. 2 doubles, Raghuveera and Miller defeated Lake Placid's Jacob Underwood and Dominic Yacoboni 6-3, 6-0 and knocked off Lake Wales' team of Ruben Feliciano and Marcelo Bonani by a 6-1, 6-2 score.

Both matches today are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at the Avon Park High School tennis courts.