ALTAMONTE SPRINGS — Auburndale senior McKenna Battilla accomplished part of her goal of reaching the overall singles final and play for a state title.
However, Battilla fell short of the ultimate goal.
Naples senior Te’Anna Mata took control of the match in the first set and defeated Battilla, 6-2, 6-1, on Friday afternoon in the singles final at the FHSAA 2026 Class 3A State Tennis Championships at Sanlando Park.
Battilla is the first girls tennis player from Polk County to play for a state title since Monica Arguello won the second of her back-to-back state titles in 2007. She also is the first girls player from Polk to finish state runner-up since Arguello in 2004. She also is just third girls player in Polk County history to play for a state title in singles competition. Michelle Fry from Haines city won the state title in 1989.
Despite the loss, Battilla, an NCAA Division I-bound soccer player, is proud of what she accomplished.
“It honestly feels great,” she said. “I’m trying not to let this bother me because, I mean, my goal this year was just to get further,” said Battilla, who had lost in the overall state semifinals twice. “Obviously it was to win too, but at the end of the day it was just get one step forward than I did last year. That’s what I did, so I just have to be proud of myself. This is my second sport. It’s a hobby to me.”
Battilla was disappointed in her play, however. She served to start the match and went up 40-love before Mata came back to win the game.
However, Battilla appeared to get on track and gain momentum by winning the next two games to take her only lead of the match. She couldn’t maintain the momentum.
“I tried not to let that first game bother me because it’s going to happen,” Battilla said. “It’s the first game of the match. I just had to let it go. But yeah, I felt the momentum, but I just couldn’t hold it. I just started making so many unforced errors.”
Mata then took control, taking advantage of Battilla’s mistakes and mixing up a baseline game with strong volleys at the net.
“Of course she was making amazing gets and everything, but I just feel I was just kind of letting myself down in the sense of making so many mistakes that I shouldn’t have been making,” Battilla said. “It wasn’t really anything about her game that was frustrating me the most. It was more of like how I was playing.”
Battilla felt the result could have been different had she been able to play as she did earlier in the day, especially on Thursday. She began the tournament by needing a tiebreaker to outlast South Fork’s Kate Ensor, 6-3, 2-6, 12-10, in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Battilla had an easier time when she defeated Lecanto’s Isabella Torralba, 6-3, 6-0, in the semifinals. She then went to another tiebreaker to defeat top-seeded Archbishop McCarthy’s Jessica McClean, 6-3, 1-6, 10-4. She had defeated McClean in a tiebreaker last year.
“I honestly was just trying to keep calm because that’s where I was last year, so anything above that was just going to be better,” Battilla said. “Obviously the matches before that, I felt a little bit more pressure because it’s like, OK, this is going to be worse than I did. So yesterday, once I got to that point and I did the same thing with the girl last year, I was like, you did it last year, you can do it again. Just play calm. I got into her head, and I honestly was very relaxed, a lot more relaxed than I have been in the past tiebreakers.”
Battilla also qualified for state in doubles competition with Hannah Windham and won two matches. They defeated St. Petersburg’s Victoria Bahula and Allison Truong, 6-2, 6-0 in the Round of 16. They continued to cruise by defeating Fleming Island’s Alexis Henninger and Stephanie Axne, 6-0, 6-1.
The Auburndale duo were finally challenged and came up short as Naples Gulf Coast’s Riddhi Thakur and Gianna Paez won in a tight match, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).
4A: George Jenkins doubles duo win first match
George Jenkins could not get anyone past their first match in the Class 4A state tournament’s individuals bracket.
In singles competition, Newsome’s Luke Baldemor defeated Dylan Mitchell, 6-4, 1-6, 11-9, in the quarterfinals.
In doubles competition, Timber Creek’s Tjark Frederic Seele and Eliah Hundsrucker defeated Dylan and Brayden Mitchell, 6-3, 6-4.
2A: McKeel girls, boys lose in first round
Orlando Lake Highland Prep defeated McKeel, 4-1, in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A girls state tournament.
Ashley Opderbeck had the only win for McKeel. She defeated Gabby Turner, 6-3, 6-1.
In the other singles matches, Authumie Dhaiti defeated Briley Davis, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1, and Lauren Chang defeated Ciara Smith, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 2.
In doubles, Dhaiti and Chang defeated Davis and Smith, 4-0, 4-1, and Lizzie McDonough and Priyana Thakkar defeated Leia Johnson and Aniya Kendrick, 4-2, 5-3.
In the boys quarterfinals, American Heritage defeated McKeel, 6-0.
In singles, Geoff Kosseifi defeated Davin Twiss, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 1; Yanni Anagnostopoulos defeated Keith Kopp, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 2; Karl Volles defeated Kyle Kopp, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 4, and Misha Liberzon defeated Abram Fallow, 6-0, 6-0.
In doubles, Kosseifi and Karnataki defeated Twiss and Keith Kopp, 4-0, 4-0, and Rodion Grinchak and Zhong defeated Colton Smith and Kyle Kopp, 4-0, 4-0.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: State tennis wrapup | Battilla falls in finals to finish state runner-up
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
