By Lee Davis
Mountain Brook has been a perennial power in boys and girls tennis since the school opened its doors in 1966.
But for all the Spartans’ successes, rarely have their boys and girls teams earned championship hardware in the same season.
That changed last week as the Mountain Brook boys and girls teams swept to the Class 7A championship at the Mobile Tennis Center. The twin victories marked the first sweep since 2005.
The Spartan boys easily defeated runner-up McGill-Toolen 51-27 to take the title. Vestavia Hills finished third with 21 points. Mountain Brook’s Paul Jones won the state championship for the number three seed, and teammate Alva Crain claimed the number five seed. Freshman William Watts won the number six seed. Peter Hartman was runner-up in the number one seed, while David Faulkner and Chase Robinett were runners-up in the number two and four
seeds, respectively.
In doubles play, the number three seeded tandem of Andrew Karcher and Watts took first place. The number one doubles team of Hartman and Faulkner finished second, as did the number two doubles combination of Jones and Robinett.
In girls competition, Mountain Brook edged runner-up Spain Park 55-45. Spartan sophomore Margaret Polk won her second consecutive singles title and freshman Liz Vandevelde won the number five singles. Morgan Jenkins took the number six singles crown.
Mountain Brook’s Sarah Catherine Cooper and Ellie Polk were runners-up in the second and third seeds, respectively.
Cele Sullivan and Cooper won the state title in number two doubles, while Maggie Duggan and Vandevelde earned the championship of number three doubles.
“A great sign for the future of our program is that several of our top girl and boy scorers were freshmen,” Mountain Brook coach Susan Farlow said. “It was also a true team effort on both sides as every starting player earned at least six points for their team.”
Spain Park’s second place finish was driven in large part by three victories in the singles competition. The Lady Jaguars’ Lindsay Song won the number two singles and teammates Sydney Ellison and Mychelle Widra took number two and three singles, respectively.
In Class 4A/5A play, Briarwood edged runner-up St. Paul 57-51 to claim the boys state championship. Lion freshman John Wolf won the number two singles with a 6-0,6-1 victory over St. Paul’s Jimmy Mackin. Alex Felts, an eighth-grader, claimed the number four singles title for Briarwood.
Felts and Tyler Guerra won the number three doubles title for the Lions.
