Wellington girls tennis advances to states for first time in program history

It’s onto Seminole County for states for the first time ever for the Wellington High girls tennis team.

While Wellington has placed individual state qualifiers in the past, the Wolverines had never qualified as a team to states. And it didn’t look good this season.

After finishing runner-up to Jupiter in last week’s 4A District 11 tournament, Wellington moved onto the Regional 11 tournament, along with Jupiter. This time, Wellington turned the tables on Jupiter.

In the regional semifinals, Wellington ousted West Boca 4-3 and then in a rematch took out Jupiter in The Finals on Friday. That earned Wellington a berth into the state team tournament that begins Monday at Sanlando Park. Wellington will face Lake Nona in its first battle.

“It’s exciting - a very good accomplishment that we can make it this far,’’ said junior first singles Keira Uter. “It’s a really big thing for us.’’

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Keira Uter heads a singles lineup that includes Raya Dittfurth at 2 Scarlett Stephens at 3, Laasya Movva at 4 and Jayden Jaraczewski at 5. Uter-Raya played first doubles. Stephens and Jaraczewski played second doubles and won the team clincher vs. Jupiter. None of Wellington's top five are seniors, meaning they all could return next season.

“I know how hard they worked and the adversity they overcame throughout the year to get to this point,’’’ head coach Josh Mcelwain said. “It’s remarkable.’’

Mcelwain was proud that Wellington, a public school, doesn’t have any home-schooled kids on the roster, which is commonplace in tennis with some private institutions and some schools in Boca Raton.

Mcelwain is aided by assistants Peter Lang and Thad Millsap. During districts, Wellington was missing Dittforth with a collarbone injury but she made it back for states.

At No. 1, Uter had lost to Jupiter’s Gianna Panaggio at districts last week but gained revenge at regionals.

“I trained harder and played a different style,’’ Uter said. “I got more balls back in play.’’

Stephens won both her matches vs. Jupiter. Against West Boca, Stephens won a third-set tiebreaker to key that win. Though Stephens qualified for states in singles last year individually, she struggled earlier this season, losing a handful of close matches.

In recent weeks, Stephens started training with her father, Luke Stephens, the head pro at the Wellington Tennis Center, which is something they had stopped doing the last couple of years.

In the Region 11 boys event, West Boca qualified for the state tournament by winning the Region 11 title, topping Spanish River in the finals. Previously, the Bulls set a milestone when both the girls and boys teams won the district title.

The West Boca boys team, whose head coach is Martha Whittaker, finished the regular season at 13-2 – the only losses coming against the elite private schools American Heritage Delray and St. Andrew’s.

Freshman Brayden Amey is West Boca's first singles. The rest of the lineup is Miles Fix, Eduardo Cardenas, senior captain Archie Balyberdin, who has committed to the University of Florida where he'll play club tennis, and David Stanescu.

"One of the reasons we are playing, so well is because all five lines of our players are extremely strong in their tennis abilities and tennis IQs,'; Whittaker said. "The other advantage we have over the other teams in Palm Beach County in 4A is how personally close all of our starters have become this past year.''.

Last time West Boca went to states as a team was 2022 but lost in the first round to Gulf Coast. The boys have never won a state title.

Meanwhile, St. Andrew’s continued its expected roll in advancing to the state team tournament in both girls and boys.

The Boca Raton private school has seen its girls advance to states every year since coach Reid Rafter took over in 2015-16. The boys have advanced to states every year since 2018.

The girls are led by first singles Lexi Cleveland, who is unbeaten in 2024 and headed to Appalachian State on scholarship. And the boys are spearheaded by Nico Snyder, who committed to Furman.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Wellington girls tennis advances to states for first time in program history