ALL-AREA GIRLS TENNIS TEAM All-Area First Team Honorable Mention Danagrace Buck Hanna Slutsky Jennifer Gosney Patricia Portmann Melany Frehafer Gabriela Portmann Michelle Sabado PLAYER OF THE YEAR SARA SWIFT DANAGRACE BUCK St. Edward’s junior, No. 2 singles Notable: Buck compiled an 11-3 record and won her flight at the Class 1A district tournament. She also teamed with Sara Swift to win the No. 1 doubles title in district play. When Buck rallied to win her match at the regional finals, she helped propel her team to the state tournament. MELANY FREHAFER Martin County senior, No. 3 singles Notable: Frehafer compiled a 17-1 record at No. 3 singles to close out her career with a 75-4 record. She teamed with Hanna Slutsky to go 13-2 at No. 1 doubles to win a Class 3A district title. Frehafer was the only Martin County player to win a match at state. JENNIFER GOSNEY Lincoln Park eighth-grader, No. 2 singles Notable: The young Gosney turned in an accomplished performance, compiling a 13-2 record and winning the No. 2 singles at the Class 2A district tournament and then teaming with Michelle Sabado to win at No. 1 doubles and advance to the state tournament. The duo won their first match at state. MICHELLE SABADO Lincoln Park senior, No. 1 singles Notable: Sabado got off to a slow start, but finished strong. She ended the year with a 15-5 record, winning Class 2A district titles at No. 1 singles and doubles. She advanced to the semifinal at state in individual singles play and teamed with Jennifer Gosney to win an opening match in doubles play. HANNA SLUTSKY Martin County junior, No. 1 singles Notable: Slutsky went 14-1 in singles play, going unbeaten until the first round of the Class 3A state tournament. In that stretch, she won her second straight No. 1 singles title in district play. She also compiled a 13-2 record at No. 1 doubles including a district championship. GABRIELA PORTMANN Vero Beach sophomore, No. 1 and 2 singles Notable: Portmann, who began the year playing No. 2 singles before moving up the lineup because of an injury, went 10-3 overall. She teamed with sister Patricia to win the No. 1 doubles title at district. The two advanced to the finals of the individual doubles bracket at the state tournament. PATRICIA PORTMANN Vero Beach freshman, No. 2 and 3 singles Notable: After starting the season at No. 3 singles, Portmann moved up because of an injury and finished the year with a 13-3 record. She teamed with sister Gabriela to win No. 1 doubles at the Class 4A district tournament. The duo advanced to the finals of individual doubles play at the state tournament. AMANDA BRESLAW John Carroll senior ARI DESMAN Martin County freshman JULIA CUSAMANO Martin County junior LOLA FADULA St. Edward’s junior STELLA FEDELE Jensen Beach freshman ALISA KLINSPORT St. Edward’s junior STEPHANIE POMPA Martin County freshman SAMANTHA RIVERO Okeechobee junior RACHEL SMITH St. Edward’s junior ERICA SUSI Vero Beach freshman The Team The 2012 All-Area Girls Tennis Team was compiled by Aimee Ford Foster. See previous all-area teams on prepzone. TCPalm.com ALEX BOERNER/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS Sara Swift of St. Edward’s is the 2012 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Girls Tennis Player of the Year. By Aimee Ford Foster Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The match that Sara Swift remembers best from this spring isn’t any of 17 straight she won to start the year. Instead, like many ath- letes, the one that remains most vivid for Swift is the one she lost. After sweeping through the regular season unbeat- en, though not untested, and then winning a Class 1A district title at No. 1 singles and two regional matches, Swift came up against an immovable foe in the state semifinals. “I had actually beaten (Gainesville-P.K. Yonge’s Jazz Whitaker) in the fall in a tournament,” Swift said. “It was a tough loss. (Whitaker) played a lot of mind games with me. She was very con- sistent. It was a bummer way to end the season.” The simple truth, though, is that advancing at the state tournament at any level is an achievement. So is compiling a 17-1 record, and winning a dis- trict title. “She absolutely had a great year,” coach Jim Buck said. “She played a couple of close matches that she won in tiebreak- ers. She’s just very men- tally tough. She seems to be able to gather herself in tight moments and closes out a match really well.” For her achievements this spring, Swift has been named the 2012 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspa- pers Girls Tennis Player of the Year. “The regular season couldn’t have gone better,” Swift said. “I had a couple of really good wins — in- cluding two against Vero Beach — and some pretty close matches. Then in the regional finals, I battled and pulled that out and then it was off to state.” Swift has played at St. Edward’s since her eighth- grade year. She started playing the game when she was 4 years old, when her family was living in Vail, Colo. When they relocated to Florida four years ago, Swift got serious about the game. Her ultimate goal is to play Division I college ten- nis. To that end, she plays year-round. “I do enjoy playing high school tennis and being on the team,” Swift said. “I have a couple of good matches every year against tough competi- tion that helps my game. But once the high school season is over, I focus on getting my rankings up.” The competitor Sara Swift blazed through the season unbeaten, before falling just shy of a state title Player of the Year Sara Swift St. Edward’s sophomore, No. 1 singles Notable: Swift compiled an impressive 17-1 record, suffering her first and only loss in the Class 1A state semifinals. She won a district title on the way and swept unbeaten through regional play to help her team advance to the state tournament. Coach Jim Buck: “She is just very mentally tough. She seems to be able to gather herself in tight moments and closes out a match really well. She plays a lot of tennis. She’s very seasoned match player . ... Sara has tremendous ground strokes and by and large, she hits right through people. She is a fierce competitor.” Walt Scherer Team: Martin County Record: 214-83, 17 seasons 2012 season: Led the Tigers to a 16-1 record, district and regional championships and a sixth straight state tournament despite blending three newcomers into a lineup hit hard by graduation. Martin County went unbeaten against Treasure Coast competition, picking up its lone loss against Benjamin. Quotable: “We had a lot of new faces, so it was pretty exciting ... I really didn’t know what to expect out of the freshmen other than I knew we had some pretty good ones coming in. Julia (Cusamano, junior transfer) was the jewel. She worked so hard.” Coach of the Year She’s just very mentally tough. She seems to be able to gath- er herself in tight moments and closes out a match really well.” Jim Buck, St. Edward’s tennis coach on Player of the Year Sara Swift All-Area Spring Sports Schedule SUNDAY Girls Tennis MONDAY Boys Tennis TUESDAY Girls Track WEDNESDAY Boys Track THURSDAY Girls Lacrosse FRIDAY Boys Lacrosse SATURDAY Softball JUNE 10 Baseball prepzone.tcpalm.com Total High School Sports, anyway you look at it. STAY ON THE BALL. 6C » Sunday, June 3, 2012 » SCRIPPS TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS » TC