Saint Andrew's Girls Tennis Finishes Second Overall in the High School National Tennis Championships

In a historic weekend for Saint Andrew's athletics, the Scots Girls Tennis team captured second place overall at the High School Tennis National Championships, held February 27 - 28 at the USTA National Campus. Facing an elite, invitation-only field of the top 20 UTR-ranked schools in the country, including powerhouses from Hawaii, California, and Georgia, the Scots proved they belong among the nation's premier programs. 

The girls put on a phenomenal performance against a deep field of nationally ranked opponents, each player contributing to the team's overall success. In group play, the Scots went 3-0, first defeating #8-ranked Riviera Prep, an FHSAA rival from Miami, FL, whom the Scots may very well see again in the State tournament. It was an incredibly tight match, but the Scots held on for the victory.

Next up, Saint Andrew's beat Punahou School, from Honolulu, Hawaii, ranked #16 in the United States, 5 matches to 2. Punahou’s commitment to traveling halfway around the world to play in this signature national invitational underscores the tournament's importance in the world of High School Tennis.

In the third leg of group play, SA defeated Lambert High from Georgia 7-0 to finish in first place in their group at 3-0, making their first Finals appearance in a National Championship.

In the Finals, SA competed hard against perennial high school giant and current #2-ranked Baylor School out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, but the Scots came up just short, falling 5-2 in another hard-fought battle.

The team was anchored by the top three players, Isa Gonzalez ’29 and Sophia Osipova ’29, and Mercedes Laub ’30, all of whom went undefeated in group play singles. Numbers 4, 5, and 6 were played by Aylin Ekmecki ’28, Belle Vole ’28, Stella Pollock ’28, Millie Cochrane ’28, and Savina Somrock ’32.

Finals highlights included Sophia winning her singles match to go 4-0 in singles play, and Bella Kurstin ’28 winning at #6 singles, 6-2, 4-6, 11-9 in the third set Super Breaker.

The Saint Andrew's Boys team did not make it out of group play at this top-level event, despite exceptional play from SA #1 player Rafael Bote ’27. Unfortunately, Rafael, along with several of his teammates, struggled with injuries that sidelined them for several matches. The result was not what the boys expected, but they remain a top-15 program in the nation despite the losses, with a signature win earlier this season against #2-ranked American Heritage Delray Beach. 

Senior Captains Colin Wheat ’26 and Gabe Dattels ’26 notched big doubles wins at #1 and #2, respectively. Adrian Fente ’27 scored a huge upset win at #2 singles, Yuping Dai ’29 won both singles and doubles matches, while Oliver Limon ’29, Christian DePalma ’29, and Nick Marsh ’27 also contributed to the team effort.

Congratulations to both our boys and girls tennis teams for continuing to cement Saint Andrew's reputation as one of the premier programs in the United States.