ALTAMONTE SPRINGS — All good things come to an end. For Matanzas boys tennis, that was its dark-horse run to the FHSAA Class 3A semifinals.
The Pirates were 18-0, regional champions and had just upset the overall No. 1 seed less than a day prior to their meeting with Wiregrass Ranch in the Final Four on April 30. The unseeded Bulls ended Matanzas’ run with a 4-3 victory to move on to the state championship.
“It was a dream,” Pirates coach Jens Oliva said about the 2026 season. “(We’re) 18-1 and made it to the semifinals at states. I mean, I never would have thought that happened.”
Matanzas was already in unfamiliar territory before its players took to the courts at Sanlando Park early Thursday morning. According to athletic director Zach Rigney, only one other team had made it that far in the history of the Pirates’ boys tennis program, and that was before the FHSAA adopted the current playoff model it has now.
And Matanzas came close to advancing to its first-ever state championship. Like their quarterfinal on April 29 when the Pirates upset Innovation, it came down to a third-set tiebreaker in a singles match.
Matanzas’ No. 2 singles player Adam Stochel Polubiec won the first set 6-4, and Wiregrass Ranch’s Cade Costin took the second 6-3 as both began to battle cramps. Costin took an early lead and, aided by pickle juice and various electrolytes provided by his team and others, outlasted Stochel Polubiec to win the tiebreaker 10-5.
By the end, Stochel Polubiec had left everything he had on the court and was hardly able to walk after multiple leg cramps forced him to lay down under the Florida sun at times.
“We had our chance today, and it stinks that Adam had to lose it on a heat cramp,” Oliva said. “He finished out the match, and we can’t be more proud of him. So we’re happy for him.”
Doubles once again favored Matanzas, as the pair of Daniel Patsula and Owen Brady beat Wiregrass Ranch’s Costin and Matthew Adanas 5-4, 2-4, 10-6 in a tiebreaker at No. 1 doubles. Stochel Polubiec and Stanislav Valenteychik took down Rishi Kala and Aarav Shashikiran 5-3, 4-2 at No. 2.
Patsula was the only Pirate to win his singles match, beating Adanas 6-2, 6-3. Outside of Stochel Polubiec’s extended outing against Costin, the Bulls took the No. 3, 4 and 5 singles matches without allowing more than one game in a set.
Still, Matanzas is holding its head up after a season with only one loss. For most of the Pirates’ lineup, which includes four seniors, it was a fitting end to their high school tennis careers.
“It was just an amazing season overall,” said Brady, a senior. “Like, we didn’t expect to go this far … To even get to states was an accomplishment for us because we haven’t done it, at least in the core of this team’s four years. We had such a good match yesterday and upset the number one seed, but we knew that today was going to be just as tough, and unfortunately, due to cramping, we did lose. But we had a really great season, and we’re not disappointed with our result.”
The only returners Matanzas will have next season are Patsula, who’s only a sophomore, and Alexander Engblom, a usual fixture in the Pirates’ No. 5 singles spot that missed Thursday’s contest due to an exam. Tyler Lemmon replaced him against Wiregrass Ranch.
Patsula is still competing for an individual state title in No. 1 singles, and his next match will take place May 1.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Matanzas boys tennis’ historic season comes to end in state semifinals
Reporting by Zach Allen, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
