Spartan boys win tennis title; girls finish second

Mountain Brook tennis nearly pulled off the elusive sweep. The boys were dominant on the way to its second consecutive state championship, while the girls just missed adding another blue map to the trophy case.

The boys team scored 53 total points, more than doubling McGill-Toolen's second-place score of 22. The Spartans played so well that the outcome was already determined well before the end of the day.

In singles play, the boys won four of the six titles. David Faulkner at No. 2, Yates Jackson at No. 3, Seth Cohen at No. 5, and Leo Styslinger at No. 6 all won individual state championships. No. 1 Peter Hartman advanced to the quarterfinals, while No. 4 Paul Jones reached the semifinals.

The Spartans swept the three doubles competitions, with Hartman and Jackson, Faulkner and Jones, and Chase Robinett and Andrew Karcher all winning.

On the girls side, Vestavia Hills just nipped the Spartans by a score of 42-40, with the clincher coming on the final match of the day. Freshman Margaret Polk won the No. 1 singles title in dominant 6-1, 6-0 fashion over Caroline Adams of Fairhope, while Cele Sullivan took home the crown in No. 4 singles.

No. 2 Sarah Cooper and No. 5 Morgan Jenkins each reached the finals, but lost in three sets. Ellie Polk advanced to the semifinals of the No. 2 singles, and Margaret Ann Clark also participated.

In doubles, Cooper and Sullivan triumphed in No. 2 doubles. The other two tandems of Polk and Polk, and Helen Catherine Darby and Kat Sours reached the semifinals.