Fair, 54°
Weather sponsored by:

Fleming Island boys tennis heads to state

Freshman Zapp tops state returner

Randy Lefko
Posted 4/27/17

FLEMING ISLAND - After a tennis-worthy blowout of 5-0 over Seminole High in the region first round playoffs last week, the Fleming Island High boys tennis team faced off on April 20 and beat handily …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Don't have an ID?


Print subscribers

If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one.

Non-subscribers

Click here to see your options for subscribing.

Single day pass

You also have the option of purchasing 24 hours of access, for $1.00. Click here to purchase a single day pass.

Fleming Island boys tennis heads to state

Freshman Zapp tops state returner


Posted

FLEMING ISLAND - After a tennis-worthy blowout of 5-0 over Seminole High in the region first round playoffs last week, the Fleming Island High boys tennis team faced off on April 20 and beat handily Lake Mary High in the second round to emerge as the region champion. Lake Mary has won the region title the past two years with state titles in 1992 and 1999.

The two wins propels the Fleming Island boys team to a first-ever team berth in the Class 4A championships to start play on Tues., April 25 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs.

“This is a special team,” said Fleming Island coach Chip Chadwell. “I think the girls did this a couple of years ago, but this is the first for the boys to go to state as a team.”

Fleming Island High’s girls teams had region round one teams from 2009-2013, but none advanced through to the state meet.

In 2016 in the boys region brackets, Seminole defeated Fleming Island last year 4-3 to end the Golden Eagles’ team aspirations with singles and doubles partners David Burns and Mark Suhrer, both seniors now, advancing individually to the state tournament. Lake Mary eventually defeated Seminole in the region final to advance in last year’s state tournament, but lost in round one to Olympia High. Lake Mary was also the 2015 region champion.

Against Lake Mary, a team with a handful of state titles, state runnerups, individual champions and a coach on hand since 1989, Fleming Island coach Chip Chadwell had history against him.

“These guys came in as the pedigree team in Florida for tennis,” said Chadwell. “Our job is to not give them points and not make mistakes. We have to attack our game.”

In 2016, Burns, the district 1-4A champion, would win his round of 128 match, but lose in the quarterfinals of singles. The doubles team of Burns and Suhrer would win in their round of 32 match, but lost in the semifinals.

For Lake Mary, and also for Fleming Island on Tuesday, the advancement of the team does not allow for an individual candidate in the Class 4A singles tournament.

In 2017, fortunately for Chadwell, a freshman named Logan Zapp came along and put some “ice” into the Golden Eagle system.

“He shows very little emotion out there for a guy that young,” said Chadwell. “He even talks to himself after bad plays and it may appear that he is coming unhinged out there, then he blasts a bunch of shots and wins his match. Incredible.”

Zapp, who had been tabbed as the number one singles for most of the season with Burns at number two and Suhrer at number three, was facing off against Lake Mary junior David Gorshein, the district 2-4A champion and a much bigger physically player than the slight build of the younger Zapp.

“He looks like he could overpower Logan out there and run him into the ground, but Logan is a human backboard off the baseline,” said Chadwell. “He just keeps returning balls and wears guys down.”

In the singles number one match, Zapp had to finish off an overtime set against Gorshein to keep the match intact before winning the match. Zapp went toe-to-toe with Gorshein to a 6-6 first set with Zapp breaking Gorshein’s service for the fifth point. In the tiebreaker, Zapp surged to a 7-2 win then followed with a 6-3 gamewinner. In the final game, Zapp took a 3-0 early lead with two service breaks on Gorshein, but Gorshein rebounded to tie at 3-3 with his own service break on Zapp. Zapp would recover and break Gorshein one more time for the 6-3 final.

“He was tough,” said Zapp, after the two hour marathon match. “I have to hydrate and stay loose for the doubles now.”

In the numbers two and three singles, Burns and Suhrer took care of business in those matches decisively with scores of 6-6, 6-1 for Burns and 6-4, 6-3 for Suhrer to set up a 3-2 team score after individual matches were done. Fleming Island lost in the four and five singles matches; Riley Dixon and Evan Maier for the Golden Eagles, and were forced to put Suhrer and Dixon on the court to push the match point with a win in their doubles match ending the competition at 5-2. In tennis team scoring, the first team to four is considered the winner; with Fleming Island winning all five individual matches against Seminole to end the match without doubles.

Suhrer and Dixon pushed the pace in the doubles, but Chadwell was cognizant of Lake Mary’s prowess and eventually put Zapp and Burns on the court about midway through the Suhrer/Dixon match just in case. Suhrer and Dixon won 7-5, 6-2.

“Our lineup is very strong mainly because Burns is a number one caliber guy here for a long time and is playing number two guys on other teams,” said Chadwell. “Mark Suhrer is a state champion soccer player now with a chance to get a state champion tennis ring. He will not be unnerved on the court.”

Suhrer was a key player for the Class 4A champion Fleming Island High boys soccer team that won a 4-0 title match over Doral Academy a month ago in Deland.

Suhrer and Dixon, eventually won their doubles match as Burns and Zapp were beginning their match and ended the competition with Fleming Island earning their state ticket.