Zephyrhills has season for the decade in 2010
By Kyle LoJacono
Staff Writer
It had been quite some time since the Zephyrhills High girls tennis team took home a district championship, but the 2010 Bulldogs ended that streak and did much more.
Zephyrhills’ last district title was in 1999, when all of the current players were in elementary school.
“I was 7-years-old then,” said Zephyrhills player Amber Morgenstern.
The Bulldogs took the Class 2A, District 6 crown by defeating Gulf High. Zephyrhills then won its regional semifinals match against Nature Coast Technical High before being eliminated by Crystal River High.
“It’s been great,” said Lorraine Hinkle, who has coached the team for six years. “I’m very happy with the way the season has gone. I was hoping for a district title and instead we’ve made a playoff run. My No. 1 singles player has also qualified for states and so has my No. 1 double team.”
The Bulldogs top doubles team consists of No. 1 player Sarah VandeBerg and No. 2 player Chelsea Smith. The two played their first-round matches in the state tournament April 26, but results were not available by press time.
“I think we really got people paying more attention to the team,” VandeBerg said. “A lot of people at our school didn’t even know we had a team before this year.”
Zephyrhills’ No. 5 player Debbie Herlan not only experienced her first district championship, but also her first and only season of tennis in the United States. She is a foreign exchange student from Düsseldorf, Germany.
“It’s been the best experience here playing with my team,” Herlan said. “…I’m just so glad to be a part of this team. I love my teammates and it’s been a great year.”
Herlan said she regularly tells her parents, Christine and Thomas, in Germany how she and the team are doing. She added that high school sports are not nearly as big in her home country and the pressure of playing for Zephyrhills hits her before each match.
“I get really nervous and afraid before each time out, but I’m always really excited too,” Herlan said. “I’m afraid of letting my team down and afraid of losing.”
She might be afraid before each match, but the junior did let that bother her all season. She was a perfect 10-0 individually.
Winning the first district championship for Zephyrhills girls tennis in 11 years as a big step for the Bulldogs, but knocking off Nature Coast in the regional tournament was also an important win. Nature Coast reached the 2A state tournament last year, but Zephyrhills managed to win four of the five singles matches to take the victory.
“Beating Nature Coast was a big win because they are a top team each year,” Hinkle said following the win against Nature Coast April 20. “Things were looking good for us all day and they sealed the deal early.”
In high school tennis, the top five players for each team play against each other in a singles match. Then the schools’ two doubles teams play. Whichever squad takes the most contests wins the team matchup. By winning four of the five individual matches against Nature Coast, Zephyrhills made doubles play irrelevant.
One of the leaders for Zephyrhills is Morgenstern, who is just fully recovering from four fractures in her arm and wrist. She suffered the injury while playing soccer for the Bulldogs as a junior.
“A girl and I got into it a little bit and I fell on my wrist,” Morgenstern said. “I played with it for a while before I knew it happened.”
Morgenstern broke her wrist during the 2008 winter break from school and did not learn of the injury until April. The previous year she was Zephyrhills No. 1 girls tennis player.
“The doctor said if I’d waited two weeks they would have needed to take bone from my hip to fix my arm,” Morgenstern continued. “I had to wear a cast that went halfway up my arm and I looked ridiculous.”
The former No. 1 regained her form for her senior season.
“I kept telling myself all year to give it everything I have,” Morgenstern said. “I didn’t want to look back and say what could I have done. As the season went on I felt stronger and just wanted to get as far as I could.”
The season did not end with a team trip to the state tournament, but Zephyrhills made the deepest playoff run in recent memory.
“I hopeful this will get more people to try out for the team and increase the interest at the school.” Hinkle said. “We showed we can field a very good to great team here and I think we can build on that.”
