St. Andrew's 'Rafa' wins individual singles championship at state tennis tournament

They call him "Rafa."

St. Andrew’s boys tennis team’s string of five straight state championships came to an end, but the Scots still brought home a state title from Seminole County. Of course they did.

First singles Rafael Bote, a sophomore nicknamed "Rafa'' after Rafael Nadal, won the individual singles championship by topping FAU School’s Alex Georgiev 6-2, 6-1, in the state finals on April 30th at Sanlando Park.

As a freshman, Bote was a third singles player for St. Andrews when the Scots marched to their fifth straight team title and first singles senior stud Nico Snyder won the state boys singles 1A title.

Rafael Bote, St. Andrew's

“It feels really good to win the individuals as a sophomore,’’ said Bote, who moved to Florida from Calgary. “It was a really great experience. I look forward to trying to get to the top level as a junior.’’  

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 Now Bote, who moved up to first singles this season, has followed in Snyder’s footsteps.

The 1A boys team title didn’t come the Scots’ way as Miami’s True North upended St. Andrew’s, 4-2, with the match stopped once the clincher occurred. St. Andrew’s had topped True North the past three years at states.

Bote held up his end of the bargain with a first-singles victory over True North’s Gabriel Valdes that lasted over two hours and was captured in a 10-7 matchbreaker.

In the individual semifinals, Bote took out Freddie Tu (Holy Trinity), who has a whopping 11.6 UTR, then he straight-setted Georgiev in the finals.

“Rafa has a cerebral approach to the game, in that he changes speeds and spins to keep his opponent out of synch,’’ St. Andrew’s coach Reid Rafter said. “But he can absolutely turn it up and go toe to toe with anyone as well, so that makes him a pretty special player.”

Meanwhile, the Benjamin High girls team had a chance at three state titles but couldn’t get over the hump. The girls lost in the 1A semifinals of the team event to Grandview Prep, 4-2. (Grandview Prep lost to True North, 4-0 in the girls finals).

Benjamin’s defending state champion, sophomore Maria Navarro, was beaten in the state individual singles final by Doral's Lauren Kettewell, 6-3, 7-5.

In the state doubles semifinal, Navarro-Milana Ronert coughed up a match point and lost in the doubles final in a third-set matchbreaker, 11-9, against True North.

The Wellington girls team won its state quarterfinal match but was beaten in the semifinals. American Heritage boys dynasty was playing in the finals May 1st in the 2A championship looking to extend its dynasty.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: St. Andrew's falls to Miami True North in 1A boys state tennis



* This article was originally published here

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