It was an All-Boca affair in the Class 4A state tennis finals at Sanlando Park in Sanford.
West Boca vs. Boca Raton. Both schools had never had a boys FHSAA state singles champion, so something had to give.
Give it up for West Boca as junior first singles Brayden Amey completed an unbeaten season with a state-finals victory (7-5, 6-3) over Boca Raton High’s Enzo Carvalho on April 30.
Amey, the top seed, became West Boca’s first boys state singles champion and did it against a longtime rival. Meanwhile, Carvalho made history, too, as the first Boca High state boys finalist.
“It’s pretty cool,’’ Amey said. “I expected it coming into the tournament. It was pretty cool (playing him). I know his game pretty well and used to play with him years back. I knew it would be a great match. He’s playing really well now.’’
Amey needed four wins at states to cop the FHSAA’s first prize. As a sophomore last season, Amey never got to the 4A state tournament, losing in the regionals. But Amey’s serve has gotten bigger and he ripped 120 mph missiles to Carvalho in the finals.
“I’ve been going for bigger serves and it’s improved a lot,” Amey said. “I usually grind it out from the baseline but I’ve been trying to come to the net when I can. I’ve been trying to finish it off much quicker.”
Amey and Carvalho have an interesting high-school history Last season, Amey triumphed in a regular season 8-game pro-set match that went to 9-8.
But as freshmen, it was Carvalho pulling off the victory in a massive comeback. Amey led 7-1, 40-15 and had double-match point. Carvalho rallied to win 9-7. This was sweet revenge, especially since their regular-season match this year was rained out.
“Both these juniors have been battling for supremacy in our county for years and met on the biggest tennis stage at states,” West Boca coach Martha Whitaker said.
Strategy played a role in Amey’s win as he noticed his Boca foe standing considerably wide when serving to the ad court, looking to kick his serve.
“I was standing wide ready with my backhand grip,” Amey said. “He’s done it recently, going to try to kick it to my backhand and I was jumping on my return early.’’
The day before, Amey won a tightly contested semifinal over Beau Gibson of Miami Palmetto after winning the first set. It came down to a match tiebreaker with Amey winning 6-1, 6-7, 10-7.
Amey also made it to the state doubles finals with partner Markus Andersson and finished runner-up after losing in a third-set match tiebreaker 10-5 against Doral.
Amey has another year of high-school tennis before he moves onto Division I. Amey is mulling a few schools with Naval Academy, Villanova and Boston College the front-runners.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Brayden Amey wins state tennis title for West Boca Raton
Reporting by Marc Berman, Special to The Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
