LAKELAND − Winter Haven’s Everett Whitehead’s senior season keeps getting better and better. After playing No. 5 singles for the Blue Devils last year, he expected to slide up to No. 3, staying behind the returning two players.
What Whitehead didn’t figure into the equation was how much better he got after all the work he put in since the end of last season. He ended up moving all the way up to No. 1 and the payoff continued on Wednesday.
Whitehead, who lost to George Jenkins’ Dylan Mitchell in their regular-season meeting, upset Mitchell, 6-2, 6-3, in the No. 1 singles overall finals in the Polk County Tennis Tournament at the Dave Beerman Family Tennis Center.
The match was played at noon — all the other finals started at 3 p.m. — to accommodate a scheduling conflict for Mitchell, who then returned after 5 p.m. for the doubles final.
Being the county champion certainly wasn’t anything Whitehead was expecting prior to the season. With state champion Ben Saltman sitting out his senior year as he plays elite level tournaments and No. 2 Wiley Simpson having graduated, Whitehead expected to move up two spots. However, he defeated Layton Kemp and CJ Chalwe in challenge matches and vaulted all the way to No. 1.
Still, being county champion wasn’t something Whitehead expected.
“I was shocked that I even won East side,” he said. “I didn’t really think about it at all. I just kind of took it up one match at a time.”
Winter Haven coach Pat Miller might not have predicted the upset, but he certainly saw the reason why Whitehead was able to accomplish the feat.
“After the season ended, he was in (Winter Haven city pro) Dave Saltman’s workout classes,” Miller said. “He hit all summer. He was the most dedicated player I have ever seen as long as I’ve been coaching high school tennis. He turned it around for him to come win that match his senior year against the best player in the county. There’s no Nicos (Kumria). There’s no Bens (Saltman) this year. Dylan Mitchell is the best player in the county, I think, right now, but after Everett beat him, who knows? District could change that.”
Winter Haven and George Jenkins are in the same district. The tennis district tournaments begin in on April 13.
In their first meeting, Mitchell prevailed over Whitehead, 6-2, 6-4. The second meeting was a completely different match.
“I feel like everything that I do in practice, it all kind of just came together today,” Whitehead said. “I think it was not hitting any outright winners but just keeping a high quality and just having damaging shots, just kind of breaking them down.”
It boiled down to consistency.
“He did not double fault against Dylan, which is unusual for a high school kid,” Miller said. “He did not double fault. He was grinding it, keeping it down the middle and waiting for his chance to hit the big shot, coming in when he needed to. He played a perfect match.”
In fact, consistency is the biggest improvement in Whitehead’s game.
“I don’t think anything changed drastically,” Whitehead said. “It’s just everything. Everything got a bit better. I played every day of the year since last season ended last year, and I hope it shows.”
Whitehead gained confidence by winning his first three matches of the season before losing to Lakeland’s Zach Kossen. His other loss was a three setter to McKeel’s Davin Twiss.
Whitehead isn’t setting any goals for districts. If he loses at districts and Winter Haven doesn’t advance by winning as a team or being runner-up, he knows his high school career will be over.
“I just want to have fun and end on a high note,” he said.
At No. 1 doubles Mitchell came back and teamed with his brother Brayden to defeat Whitehead and Kemp, 7-6, 6-3.
County schools shared the wealth in winning the other singles finals. Brayden Mitchell defeated Kemp, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 2; McKeel’s Colton Smith defeated Wonder Haven’s CJ Chalwe, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3; All Saints’ Jaxson Bogle defeated George Jenkins’ Ethan Siefke, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4, and Lakeland Christian’s Ross McNabb defeated Winter haven’s Nathaniel Siefke, 6-4, 6-4.
At No. 2 doubles, McKeel’s Smith and Kyle Kopp defeated All Saints’ Jay Sichelman and Bogle, 6-2, 6-4.
Auburndale’s Battilla struggles then rallies to defeat McKeel’s Davis in straight sets
A second upset appeared to be in the making when McKeel junior Briley Davis stormed out to a 5-2, 30-love lead over defending champion McKenna Battilla, a state semifinalist a year ago.
The Auburndale senior, however, battled back, saved the game and went on to defeat Davis, 7-5, 6-2, in the girls final at No. 1 singles. The victory gave Battilla her third county title at No. 1 singles in four years. She did not play as a sophomore as she was recovering from knee surgery.
“I wasn’t playing my best,” Battilla said. “I’ve just been dealing with this shoulder for the past two days. I had noting to lose at that point. I know if let go of that are, I still had a whole other set to get it back, so I was just able to play how you know how to play. Just hit the ball, don’t push. It started working. Things starting going y way. I started getting more confidendent. I stared playing less nervous, and momentum kept me going.”
Battilla really hadn’t been challenged much this season. In her 10 regular-season matches, she won four matches without losing a game and lost just one game in three other matches.
Only once did she lose more than two games in a set when Bartow’s Montserratt Vasconez gave her a challenge in the first set before Battilla prevailed, 6-3, 6-0.
The Bartow girls gave me my first big challenge of the year,” Battilla said. “She’s a great player. At the beginning of the season I played her and I was just fresh from the season. Then I played her a couple of weeks ago and she was just playing great. She’s improved so much. So playing against her and having some adversity from her being up 5-0, and she almost came back in the set. I needed it because throughout, the season it was kind of just let’s show up, let’s play, whatever.”
For Davis, it was her first loss of the season in her first year playing No. 1 singles. She lost just once last season at No. 2 singles through the district tournament.
Battilla and Hannah Windham also won at No. 1 doubles. They defeated Davis and Ciara Smith, 6-1, 6-0. Windham won at No. 2 singles, defeating Smith, 6-1, 6-1.
McKeel won the finals at the other three singles positions and at No. 2 doubles.
In the other singles finals, Leia Johnson defeated Winter Haven’s Sophia Dinger, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 3; Aniya Kendrick defeated Winter Haven’s Franley Varhas, 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6), at No. 4, and Ashley Operderbeck, defeated Winter Haven’s Jordyn Nichols, 6-0, 6-1.
At No. 2 doubles, Johnson and Kendrick defeated Odom and Dinger, 7-5, 6-0.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Here’s how Winter Haven’s Whitehead went from No. 5 to No. 1 to county champ
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
