Fast start boosts Coronado girls to third consecutive region title

Coronado tennis coach Luther Bohanan had his hands full while trying to leave Darling Tennis Center on Saturday.

His Cougar boys and girls left him with a full cooler, a basket full of apples and two trophies to take to his car.

The veteran coach emptied the cooler and gave away the apples, but he wasn't about to let the trophies slip from his grasp.

After watching the school's boys team breeze to a Sunrise Region title earlier in the morning, the Cougar girls gave Bohanan and their school another piece of hardware with a 15-3 victory over Green Valley in the region final.

Coronado (13-0) captured its third straight and eighth overall Sunrise title and will participate in the Division I state tournament, which begins Oct. 18 in Reno.

"It never gets old," Bohanan said. "I love it because it's school pride. These kids work so hard. We don't take it for granted. We take it one match at a time and one point at a time."

The Cougars started fast, rolling to a first-round sweep and bumping the lead to 9-0 when Sammy Smith, Nicole Gardner and Paris Reese each won a second-round singles match.

"We have some good singles players," Bohanan said. "It's a luxury, but I enjoy that luxury because they're solid kids and they've got some skill. I'm just glad they're playing for me."

Marina Arriola and Sabrina Van Buskirk won a doubles match to stretch the lead to 10-0, securing the win.

Reese and Smith each went 3-0 in singles. Gardner was 2-0 in singles, and Arriola and Van Buskirk were 2-0 in doubles. Marlee Allison and Lauren Coons went 2-1 in doubles for the Cougars.

The doubles teams of Josie Legarza and Tasha Dewitt, and Racquel Holder and Sydnee Crosby each went 1-1 for the Gators (12-1).

BOYS

Coronado's boys had won seven consecutive Sunrise Region tennis championships entering Saturday's match.

The Cougars didn't take long to tack on another.

No. 2 singles player Sam Cohen picked up the first of 11 consecutive Coronado victories, and the Cougars breezed to an easy 15-3 win over Liberty in the Sunrise final at Darling Tennis Center.

Coronado (13-0) advances to the Division I state tournament, which begins Oct. 18 in Reno.

'We just came out focused," Bohanan said. 'We got up on them in the first set, and I thought the kids just started playing relaxed. They played the way they are capable of playing."

The Cougars, who beat Liberty 12-6 and 15-3 on consecutive days to end the regular season, never let the Patriots
(10-3) feel comfortable.

"They're familiar with the Liberty kids, and they realized that we couldn't take anything for granted," Bohanan said.

Cohen and Aaron Egbert each registered a 6-0 win in singles, and Jack Vance and Jamie Vance tacked on a 6-0 win in doubles to give Coronado a quick 3-0 lead. Cassell King in singles, and the doubles teams of Ryland McDermott and Sam Grant, and Patrick Crockett and Michael Boyd each won to give the Cougars a 6-0 sweep in the first round.

And Coronado wasn't done, rattling off five straight wins to start the second round before Dylan Ihmels finally got Liberty on the board in singles.

The Vances finished 3-0 in doubles to pace Coronado. King was 2-0, and Cohen went 2-1 in singles for the Cougars, who got 2-0 doubles efforts from the teams of McDermott and Grant, and Crockett and Boyd.

Ihmels was 2-1 in singles for Liberty.

Contact reporter Bartt Davis at bdavis@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5230.