Tennis: Gulf rookies share title

By JOEY KNIGHT

NEW PORT RICHEY - Conventional wisdom suggests Gulf's boys tennis team must have a ringer stashed somewhere within its roster.

A hotshot with a hearty USTA ranking, or prodigy with a personal coach, must have transferred in. Tennis programs, after all, simply can't evolve into conference titlists - the way the Bucs have - with a lineup dotted with rookies.

But scan Coach Bret Wiest's depth chart, and those presumptions fade into wood-racket obsoleteness.

The Bucs, 4-12 last season, finished the regular season with a 10-2 mark and a share of the program's first Sunshine Athletic Conference title. If they wish to devise a mantra for their improbable season, a fitting one might be No Experience Necessary.

They had very little entering the season. In fact, senior Jesse Bowery and sophomore Joe Giunta - the No. 4 and 5 singles players - had no previous organized playing experience.

"I thought we'd be better," said Wiest, who, fittingly enough, also has no organized playing background. "I never imagined we'd be 10-2 and in a fight for the conference championship."

The fight ended Thursday, when Land O' Lakes - capping a magical run of its own - rallied for a 5-2 victory at Gulf. With the triumph, the Gators seized a share of the SAC crown from the Bucs, who begin play this morning in the Class 2A-District 8 Tournament in Zephyrhills.

"Gulf is amazingly better," Land O' Lakes coach Karen Turman said. "I think it's great that they've done so well."

Any pinch of tennis seasoning the Bucs possess comes from No. 1 player Trevor Hubbard, a sophomore who attends weekend clinics at Clearwater's Crescent Oaks Country Club.

Hubbard (6-5) has won every first set this season except those he dropped to Mitchell's Gregg Strange and Land O' Lakes' Vu-Anh Thai, who likely will square off for the 3A-District 6 title this week.

Hubbard's success has been only one component of what Wiest describes as a collective effort. Junior No. 2 player Zach Miller is undefeated at his singles spot, and Bowery is 10-1.

"It's just been a different kind of team," said Wiest, the Bucs' fifth-year coach and a 1992 graduate of the school. "Each match, it would be a different kid stepping forward and helping out."

Turman also can attest to the effect of unheralded players stepping forward.

The chances of her club winning a third consecutive SAC title seemed unlikely as the season dawned, and grew more bleak when one senior was ruled academically ineligible and another quit after one match.

Those casualties left Turman with one singles holdover - Thai - from last year's club.

But the Gators finished the regular season 11-2. Thai enters the district tournament undefeated in 11 singles matches, and junior Ryan Kroffsik is 9-4.

"I would describe our team as scrappy," Turman said. "They don't have the best form in the world, but they find a way to get it done."