Newman, St. Martin’s and McGehee bring returning Division III, IV champions to state tennis

The first two days of the LHSAA state tennis tournament Monday and Tuesday in Monroe will include returning champion players from three New Orleans area schools.

From Newman, junior Gwendolyn Gray will play in the Division III singles draw for the first time after she played on a pair of state title-winning doubles teams over the past two seasons, helping the Greenies run their streak of team titles to four in a row.

From St. Martin’s, senior Jophie LaForge will attempt to win a second consecutive Division IV singles title. LaForge and younger brother Max, in the eighth grade at St. Martin’s, will be on opposite sides of the bracket after the older brother won the regional championship match against his younger brother, 6-1, 6-1, last week.

From McGehee, sophomore Florence Dupuy and junior Ana King will try to win the Division IV doubles title for the second year in a row after they helped McGehee win a team championship last season.

The first two days of the tournament will include only Division III and IV players. Division I and II championships will be decided Thursday and Friday.

Division III

Newman won the Division III girls team championship last season with Gray on the state champion doubles team. Now with Gray playing singles, the Greenies have eighth graders Frances Casbarian and Macy Montgomery as their leading doubles team after the pair won a three-set regional final against Sacred Heart senior Maria English and eighth grader Elise Scafidel.

Sacred Heart sophomore Emmeline Singer is in the singles draw after she played on the state runner-up doubles team last year.

The Newman boys advanced all eight regional players into the state tournament, including regional doubles champions Simms Hardin and Archer VanDenburgh. Both are seniors. Newman at regionals advanced three doubles teams to the semifinals and two reached the finals, which bodes well for the Greenies as they try to secure team points at state.

Other leading local players in the Division III boys field include St. Charles sophomore Brody Matherne (the Region IV champion) and Haynes sophomore Arav Gandhi (runner-up) in the singles draw.

Division IV

McGehee could contend for another Division IV girls championship with all eight players advancing from the regional tournament, including singles regional champion Adler Rosenthal along with Dupuy and King on doubles. Rosenthal, a freshman, won the regional final against Country Day sophomore Elizabeth Patin.

Country Day advanced all eight boys and girls each to the Division IV boys tournament, including returning state runner-up boys doubles players Porter Sinnott (sophomore) and Joseph Hereford (eighth grade).