PREP TENNIS: Venice girls win third straight regional championship

VENICE — For the third consecutive season, the Venice girls tennis team has earned the right to be called regional champions.

The Indians won in 3 singles, 4 singles, 1 doubles and 2 doubles in two sets each to secure the regional title against Riverview at Venice High on Thursday afternoon.

“This has been an awesome run for this program,” Venice head coach Wayne Robertson said. “It’s four district champions in a row, three regionals, and now three straight appearances at state. I don’t think this tennis program has had a comparable run like this in the past.”

The victory kept Venice’s undefeated season alive, sitting now at 18-0. Thursday’s win was also the fourth over the Rams this season.

Winning in singles for the Indians were Joy Jia at 3 singles and Koreena Hickey at 4 singles.

Jia defeated Riverview’s Amelia Hilton (6-1, 6-3), while Hickey blanked Kathleen Siddons (6-0, 6-0).

Both doubles teams won, with Tess Tchorbadjiev and Faye Klutke beating out Riverview’s Amelia Hilton and Kathleen Siddons in a tight match (5-4, 4-1) at 2 doubles.

Venice’s 1 doubles team — Christine Wu and Nika DeLong — beat Riverview’s Julia Piotrowska and Molly Dillon after falling to them twice in a row prior (4-0, 4-2).

“We lost a really great player in Nicole Cierniak from last year, and these girls have really stepped up to get us back to state,” Robertson said. “It all starts at the top with Nika as our senior. She’s been fantastic. And you have to give props to the two freshmen in Faye and Koreena. They’ve had a huge impact. This is a really good, close group of girls, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Venice now readies for a trip to the FHSAA state championships at Sanlando Park near Orlando for matches on Monday and Tuesday.

The Indians will open with Steinbrenner on the first day of competition.

“We feel really good going into it,” said Robertson of state. “I know the girls are ready. There’s going to be eight really good teams up there, and of those eight, four or five are really, really strong teams that could win it all. Winning that first match is the most important thing right now.”