9-1 Blazer Girls Tennis went into day one of the FHSAA 1A District 11 tournament and came out in a strong position to battle for the district team title and numerous singles/doubles titles. All five Blazer girls players will advance to the second day of the tournament. In singles play, all except for Stella Melchiorre advanced to the second day, with 2's singles Aubrey Eggebrecht already punching her ticket to the district final match against Admiral Farragut. In doubles play, both pairs of doubles will play in the district semifinals to start the morning off.

Quarterfinals

In 1's doubles, Stella Melchiorre and Aubrey Eggebrecht drew a #6 seed, giving them a favorable match up against #3 seed Cardinal Mooney. The Blazers started off strong, winning the first set 6-2, but couldn't keep the momentum as they fell in the second set 2-6, forcing a 10 point tie-breaker. In the tie-breaker, the Blazer duo came through with an 11-9 victory to move into the semifinals. The duo will battle against Bradenton Christian tomorrow morning as they try to overcome an earlier defeat to the Panthers. The Panthers freshman duo of Victoria Vikulina and Brooke Woolery won the match earlier in the season 4-2 5-4 (7-3) in a hotly contested match. The Panther pair are 7-3 and the match could potentially be the best match of the tournament for both schools.

2's doubles Emma Ferraro and Haley Bolton took a few minutes to drop into late season form as they had to come from behind against Cardinal Mooney to win the first set 7-5 and then completed the victory with a 6-2 victory in set two. The win puts the #1 seeded pair into the semi finals against Admiral Farragut's Naima Ellison (6th) and Giselle Shi (Jr). The Bluejacket duo is 2-4 as 2's doubles.

Melchiorre earned a #6 seed going into the tournament, pulling Admiral Farragut's Mya Clarke as her opponent in the quarterfinal round. The two battled hard in the first set, with Melchiorre just not having enough to come through with the win as she lost the set 7-5 and then had nothing left as she fell 6-0 in set two to drop the match.

Eggebrecht comes into the tournament as a #2 seed and faced off against Bradenton Christian's Woolery, making quick work of the Freshman 6-2 6-1 to move into the semifinal against Pine View's Isabella Zmiyiwsky. The Python senior is 2-2 as a 2 single, having spent most of the season as the Python's 1 single with a 2-8 record.

Bolton entered the tournament as the #1 seed for the Blazers and faced off against Cardinal Mooney's Chandler Harkins. Bolton bested the Cougar 3 singles player 6-3 6-1 as she heads to the semifinal against Bradenton Christian 3 singles Samantha DeJongh. The Panther freshman is 4-4 on the season as a 3 singles player.

Ferraro's time to hit the court again came around 2pm, having a 3 hour wait in between matches. Ferraro also entered the tournament as the #1 seed in the four spot for the Blazers. Emma made quick work of Out-of-Door Academy's Victoria Sevilla, winning the match 6-2 6-1. Ferraro will now face off against Pine View's Hailey Han. The Python freshman spent most of the season in the 3 spot for the Pythons, but will play in the tournament as a four, having just a 1-0 record in the position this season after dropping down from the three spot after a 2-5 record mid season.

Waiting almost the entire day to begin play, Sophia Ocasio took to the court around 5pm as the final set of 5's began play. Battling against Cardinal Mooney's Cristina Peterson (Jr), Ocasio had a hard fight in the first set, coming through with the 7-5 win and taking the momentum in the match as she won the second set 6-1.

With 4 singles and 2 doubles wins in the quarterfinals, the Blazers will have a great shot at winning the team title as they are currently are tied with the most teams reaching the semifinals with six. 

Semifinals

Before calling it quits for the evening, Eggebrecht would play in her third match of the day after finishing her second match very early in the day. In her second singles match, Aubrey would take on Pine View's Isabella Zmiyiwsky and proved too strong for the senior as she'd complete the two set sweep 6-1 & 6-3 to punch her ticket to the district final match-up against Admiral Farragut's #1 seeded Marley Roslansky. The Blue Jacket 6th grader is 8-2 as a two this season and will be a tough competitor for Eggebrecht to get past.