Two twins in their first season of girls high school tennis made the difference in Boone’s 4-2 victory against Lake Mary in a Class 4A region semifinal match on Tuesday.
Jordyn Gomez, playing No. 1 singles for the Braves, remained undefeated with a 6-0, 6-4 win against Lake Mary’s London Hernandez, a ranked freshman player. Jayden Gomez, won at No. 2 singles and the twins teamed up for 4-0, 4-2 doubles victory to wrap up the victory for the Braves, who are 16-1 this season.
The only loss was to Winter Park, which is the team Boone will face on Thursday afternoon in the region final at the Fort Gatlin Tennis Center — home courts for the Braves. The winner of that match advances to the FHSAA 4A state tournament, to be played Monday through Wednesday at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs.
The Gomez girls, 17-year-old juniors, are “non-traditional” students who do not take classes at Boone. They’re actually enrolled at Faith Christian but take all of their classes online — including five advanced placement classes. One of Florida’s school choice regulations allows students whose school does not offer a particular sport to play elsewhere.
The twins are daughters of two UCF graduates who ran around getting them to youth soccer, swimming and tennis programs before asking the girls to choose one sport.
“They both picked tennis,” said mom, Leeya Gomez, smiling as she watched Tuesday’s matches. “They’ve really had a lot of fun playing high school tennis. The team has been very welcoming. They like the group camaraderie and playing together as a team. They’ve had a really good experience.”
And they have a lot of tennis experience, training mostly at the GTA academy in Lake Nona.
Jeff, the father, and grandparents were also on hand as big fans of the team.
Boone coach John Richards, a longtime teaching pro at Fort Gatlin, said the twins are definitely college prospects.
“They’ll continue to improve with more tournament play. They can compete,” he said.
Perennial power Lake Nona and Windemere both won and will match up Thursday at the USTA National Campus.
Other 4A boys winners Tuesday were Lake Mary, Celebration and Timber Creek, which edged Winter Park 4-3. Celebration’s girls also prevailed.
Innovation’s boys and girls advanced with 3A wins against Edgewater.
Lake Highland Prep and Bishop Moore won 2A boys and girls matches and will rematch at LHP.
For 1A winners, Windermere Prep’s boys host Trinity Prep and The First Academy’s girls have a home match against Geneva.
The 1A state tournament is Monday-Wednesday with play at Red Bug Lake Park for teams and Sylvan Park for individual qualifiers. The 3A matches at Sanlando and 1A matches at Red Bug and Sylvan are Wednesday into Friday.
Seminole made history last week, becoming the only water polo program in FHSAA history to have three consecutive years with both its girls and boys teams advancing to the final four at Belen Jesuit Prep in Miami.
It’s the fourth consecutive state semifinal appearance for the undefeated SHS girls and third in a row for the boys.
West Orange’s girls, who have lost only to Seminole this season (13-8 and 15-11), are seeded second behind the ‘Noles.
Seminole (29-0) vs. St. Thomas Aquinas (19-8), 3:30 p.m.