Estrella Foothills Cory, Schell repeat in D-III tennis

April 27, 2013 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Estrella Foothills Erin Cory has been there and done that. Done that again. And did that again on Saturday afternoon.

Cory, the No. 1 girls singles seed in Division III, won her third consecutive state singles title in D-III by knocking off No. 2 seed Abbie Denney of Northwest Christian, 6-4, 6-2, at the state singles and doubles championships at Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale.

Fellow school-mate and top boys seed Max Schell didn't win for a third time, but captured a second consecutive D-III singles crown with a 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 2 Delaney Harbin of Phoenix Christian.

Cory has beaten three different opponents for her titles. Schell defeated Harbin for the second year in a row, but Harbin gave Schell a tougher match this time around.

Three other schools claimed a pair of singles or doubles titles on Saturday -- Xavier won D-I singles and doubles; Brophy D-I singles and doubles and Catalina Foothills captured boys singles and girls doubles. Xavier's top-seeded doubles team of Maggie Cohen and Scarlet Rush won for the second year in a row. They defeated Gator teammates, No. 2 seeds Madison Majerle and Emily Serrano, 6-1, 6-0. Xavier's No. 2 seed Madison Clarke upended top-seed Caroline Amos of Salpointe, 6-0, 3-6, 6-0 for the singles title.

Also repeating as state champs were Catalina Foothills top-seeded doubles team of Rachana Bhat and Kirtana Bhat. They beat No. 3 seeds Marissa Baca and Kelsey Brown of Ironwood Ridge, 6-2, 6-4. In the longest final of the day, a three-hour marathon, Catalina Foothills Mike Lee, the No. 2 seed topped No. 1 seed Alex Bose of Ironwood Ridge, 6-7, 7-5, 7-6. 

Brophy got an expected victory from top singles seed Hudson Blake as he beat Chaparral No. 2 seed James Ponwith, 6-4, 6-4, for the D-I title. In doubles the Broncos saw No. 7 seed David Akin and Michael Cowan rally from a set down to take a harrowing 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 victory over top seeds Andrew Dunn and Tyler Linscott of Salpointe.

Four more schools crowned one champion each. In Division II, Notre Dame's second-seeded team of Luke Karstens and Adrian Cordova beat top-seed Cody Petford and Adam Knox of Ironwood Ridge, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. Also in Division II, the gils singled title went to No. 1 seed Sarah Brown, who topped No. 3 seed Cristina Orepeza, 6-0, 6-0. Division III boys doubles went to the No. 3 seed, Thatcher's Nathan McMaster and Reed Goodman. They beat No. 1 seed Jacob Meyer and Troy Parsons of Valley Lutheran, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4. Pusch Ridge gained the girls doubles crown in D-III with top seed Allie Scott and Gabrielle Courtney defeating third-seeded Charlotte Aaron and Rae Aaron of Phoenix Country Day, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6.