Wilson Foret
May 3, 2016
Riley staked with bringing passion to Colonels
May 4, 2016
Call it a three-peat.
For the third time in a row, the Vandebilt Catholic boys’ tennis team has won the LHSAA Division II State Tennis Championship.
The Terriers dominated the state tournament this week, which was held at UL-Monroe. They easily outlasted the competition throughout the event, accumulating 16.5 team points to outpace runner-up St. Michael, which had 10.
The Terriers also swept individual state titles with Mitchell Thomas winning the Singles Title and the team of Mason Melancon and Jacob Fournier bringing home the Doubles Title.
Vandebilt coach Jake Clements said he’s proud of his team’s accomplishments, adding that the Terriers have worked hard throughout the past several seasons to earn their place at the top.
“The student-athletes worked their tails off all season,” Clements said. “Being a defending champion, we know what it takes to be No. 1, and they were all willing to make that commitment at the beginning of the season with the state tournament in mind. We got the three-peat, and we’re so happy for our whole group.”
The Terriers prospered at the state tournament, playing easily some of their best tennis of the season at the time it mattered most.
For Thomas, the goal was to push deep into the single’s draw
and find redemption. Last season, the Terriers standout fell in the Quarterfinals to St. Michael’s Jeremy Braud – a loss he looked to avenge all season.
The Vandebilt senior did exactly that, rolling through the bracket with relative ease to get into the finals against Ben Franklin standout Bowen Mince.
The match was close early, but Thomas’s dominance was on display in the late games, allowing him to score a 6-4, 6-2 victory to earn the individual title.
Thomas had also beaten Mince to win the Regional Title – a match that was played two weeks ago.
He said it was a feeling unlike anything he’d ever experienced in his high school career.
“It was a great feeling of pride to know that I was the champion,” Thomas said. “It was awesome. It’s something that I’d experienced before, but to win an individual championship was just that much better.”
On the doubles side, the finals was also a rematch from Regionals, pitting Melancon and Fournier against teammates Conrad Richard and Connor Doyle.
The pairings were a bit dramatic, as Doyle and Melancon had won the previous two state titles for Vandebilt, but separated to give the team a greater depth of options in the bracket.
Melancon and Fournier won 6-1, 6-3, sealing Melancon’s third-career doubles championship.
Clements said the fact that both state finals were rematches from Regionals shows how battle-tested the Terriers are each season when they get to the LHSAA State Tournament.
‘The student-athletes have worked their tails off all season.’
Jake Clements
Vandebilt tennis coach
