Connor's team made it to the 2024 FHSAA 3A Tennis State Championship and he traveled with his team to Orlando on Tuesday to play for his school. The boys first match was Wednesday against Osceola.
From the www.ustaflorida.com page: For the Boy’s side of things, all eight teams entered with a great shot at winning it all, but extra eyes were on Barron Collier, St. Thomas Aquinas, Osceola, and Lake Buena Vista. Osceola was riding a hot streak of matches and faced off against Ponte Vedra. The two split the doubles matches, putting all the focus on singles. Osceola’s Alessandro De Bernardo took the No. 1 Singles match, but unfortunately for them, that was the only match they took in singles. Grant Price, Christian Miller, and Connor Vernon were able to win their matches and give Ponte Vedra the 4-2 win.
The boys were excited to win their match on Wednesday and progress to the semi final and potentially final matches on Thursday. The girl's team also won their Wednesday match and incidentally both teams were matched up against Barron Collier from Naples, Florida, for Thursday's match.
Aunt Amanda drove up on Wednesday evening to be present for the Thursday matches and I drove up on Thursday morning as well. We were rooting for the boys, but they started off with losses on both doubles lines. Connor went on to play line 4 singles and he matched up well against his opponent. They were both frustrating each other quite a bit and Connor was playing his heart out, which we loved to see. Connor's match had some ups and downs, but he managed to win the first set 7-5. The second match was halfway through when some of Connor's teammates lost and the match was decided. When Connor stopped the second set it was 3-4. Grant was the only one on the team that finished singles with a win, so they fell 1-4 to Barron Collier.
Barron Collier won against both the boys and the girls, so it was the end of the season for all of the PVHS kids. Connor was exhausted after his match and emotional. He definitely put a lot of effort and energy in to the tennis season and while they didn't finish as State champs, it was a successful season by almost any other metric. The Barron Collier team ended up beating St. Thomas to take the crown for the 2024 season, so PV could have had a great chance at winning if they could have made it past Barron Collier.
We're proud of Connor for being a positive teammate, a strong competitor, and a good sport throughout the season.
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