UPDATE:
The Oak Hall School boys team missed out on the District A-4 title, but finished as runner-up to St. Augustine's St. Joseph. The Eagles were eliminated from Regionals by Jacksonville's Trinity Christian, with the lone Oak Hall win by Zach Thibault.

In girls action, the P.K. Yonge girls earned the District A-4 title and advanced to the Regional finals with a win over St. John's Country Day School. The Blue Wave were getting ready for a Friday, April 18 Regional championship match against Jacksonville Episcopal. 

Prior to the District Tournament, several local girls teams had their eyes on the title. Oak Hall School, which hosted the tournament, was looking for a repeat. The Eagles recently hosted District rival Newberry, which features a young roster. St. Francis and P.K. Yonge, which is coached by Jon Bongiovanni, both feature several players who also could make a deep run in the tournament brackets.

Newberry, which had a 3-5 record heading into the last week of the regular season, is led by a young core and number one singles player Melody Cappock. “We had 18 girls come out for the team this year,” says Newberry coach Anne Powers. “So we have a lot of new, good players coming up.” Powers says this season has been great for the Panthers’ experience level.

Oak Hall, which is coached by Robert Taylor, does not have an easy road to a District title repeat. The Eagles were 3-7 heading into the last week of the season and Taylor said his team is in “rebuilding” mode. However, he still expects his top five players — Marie Hamilton, Ellen Abbey, Kylie Austgen, Megan Werbel and Robyn Daugherty to play well enough to compete for the title. Taylor says Daugherty, a seventh grader, has stepped up this season and will be a player to watch in the future.

On the boys side, Oak Hall, which is coached by John Dickinson, was playing  host to the District A-4 Tournament and appeared to be a favorite heading into the tourney. In March, the Eagles posted a solid victory over the P.K. Yonge Blue Wave (the PKY boys are also coached by Bongiovanni), which also lost to District rivals St. Francis and Cedar Key.

St. Francis’ boys team, which posted a 5-2 regular season record and both losses were against Oak Hall, is led by senior and number one singles player Wayne Gabb, who lost only one match all season. Coach Meredith Rowe says her squad worked hard all season and made good progress throughout the year. The Wolves’ Stephen Rowe is the only other senior on the young squad.