Tennis: Kirtana Bhat, Madison Clarke add another title each

May 2, 2015 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


It was a day of crowning individual champions Saturday in boys and girls tennis and leading the way were a four- and three-time champion of the female persuasion.

Catalina Foothills Kirtana Bhat collected a fourth title and Xavier Prep's Madison Clarke added a third consecutive singles title to her resume at Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale.

Bhat teamed with Abby Watson in defeating Ironwood Ridge's Kelsey Brown and Allison Knox, 6-2, 6-2. Bhat won doubles titles with sister, Rachana, in 2012 and 2013. Last year she opted for singles and won that title. She spent plenty of time flashing a winning smile for various cameras with teammate, coach and parent or more.

Clarke steamrolled her way to a third straight singles title, topping Liberty's Corinne Prost, 6-1, 6-0. Clarke seemed ultra-focused and showed some emotion when flipping the score panel tp show the one game she dropped in the first set with a 4-0 lead. Clarke played in the D-I singles final all four years in her career. She was runner-up as a freshman in 2012.

The longest title match of the day took place in D-II girls singles. Salpointe's Caroline Amos outlasted Arcadia's Sabrina Barkdull, 6-2, 5-6, 6-1. It was the only title match of 12 for the day that went to three sets. Barkdull also had to go three sets in her semifinal win, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 over Rincon's Chloe Gavino. Amos bested her top finish of  singles runner-up in 2013.

The D-I boys singles title was nabbed by top seed Jarod Hing of Horizon. Hing bested Brophy's Zach Cihlar, 6-2, 6-1. Cihlar had a grueling three-set win in the semis over Corona del Sol's Chris Steele, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-5. Cihlar was singles runner-up in 2014 and a doubles runner-up in 2013.

The wins by Bhat-Watson and Clarke were not surprises, but their were a couple. Defending D-II singles champ and top-seed Yash Parikh of Salpointe fell in the semifinals to Shadow Ridge sophomore Carlos Hassey, 6-4, 6-3. Hassey went on to win the D-II title beating a second former champ (2013 champ Mike Lee of Catalina Foothills), 6-3, 7-5. Lee had to play into a third set in his semifinal match, but prevailed in three sets  when Notre Dame's Luke Carstens retired.

The D-I doubles final set up to be a doozy with No. 1 Jeremy Auh and Chase Victor of Desert Mountain taking on No. 2 Brophy's David Akin and Christian Franco. The match never took place as Victor couldn't get rid of cramps in his left calf and the defending doubles champs had to default.That made Akin-Franco the champs. Akin was a doubles champ in 2013 and Franco was a doubles runner-up in 2014. 

D-III singles top seed Noah Baker of Desert Christian lost in the semis to No. 5 Tim Schlum of Fountain Hills, 6-2, 6-0. Schlum then battled No. 3 seed Kesin Dolwani of Arizona College Prep (Chandler). Dolwani prevailed, 6-4, 6-1. 

Other champions crowned on Saturday:

Mesa Mountain View freshmen Anya Lamoreaux and Madeline Lamoreaux had to push hard in the second set to prevent a third, but prevailed over Chaparral's Rebecca Salaway and Grace Koester, 6-2, 7-5.

Catalina Foothills' Nate Rasmussen and Dalton Reisig took the D-II boys title with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Cactus Shadows' Joey Anderson and Dimitry Chesnov. Rasmussen was a 2014 doubles champ.

D-III boys doubles title went to No. 2 seed Ted McNally and Bryce Stockslager of Phoenix Country Day. They topped top-seeded Camron Vick and Christian Fetsis of Pusch Ridge. 6-2, 6-3.

The No. 1 seed in D-III girls -- Estrella Foothills Zoey Nelson -- protected her seed with a 6-3, 6-0 finals triumph over Rancho Solano Prep's Neha Alety, 6-3, 6-0. Nelson and Alety are sophomores.

D-III girls doubles fell to No. 1 seed sisters Kseniya Ramras and Anya Ramras from Scottsdale Prep. They defeated Jenny Fisher and Jena Serrano of Fountain Hills, 6-2, 6-1. It was the secon title for Kseniya Ramras. She won D-III singles last year. Kseniya Ramras is a sophomore and Anya Ramras is a freshman.