Patrick, Sufi nail down repeat titles in D-II tennis

April 28, 2012 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Campo Verde's Dominic Patrick was pushed nearly to the brink in winning his second consecutive boys singles title Saturday at the Division II tennis championships at Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale.

Patrick, a senior and the top-seed, posted a 6-1, 6-7, 5-3 (retired) victory over No. 2 seed Jacob Hedderig of Cactus Shadows. 

Patrick was up a set and had a 5-4 lead in the second, but Hedderig rallied to force a tie-breaker and a third set. But leg cramps that began bothering Hedderig in the second set became too much in the third and he retired making a champ of Patrick.

Boys doubles was a minor upset as second-seeded Griffin Dales and Josh Hedderig of Cactus Shadows upended defending champs and top seeds Alec and Cody Petford of Ironwood Ridge, 6-4, 6-4. Both Dales-Hedderig and the Petfords had tough semifinal matches. The Petfords came back from a set down to beat Stephen Bonhoff and Jackson Lee of Sabino, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Dales and Hedderig toppled Adrian Cordova and Luke Karstens of Notre Dame Prep, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

In girls singles, Catalina Foothills senior Zaina Sufi landed in the winner's circle for the second year in a row with a 6-1, 6-3 triumph over last year's singles runner-up Aleeza Kanner of Sunnyslope. Sufi actually was part of a winning doubles team for CFH in 2011, teaming up with Sam Ruth for the title. Sufi was a singles runner-up in each of 2009 and 2010 in 4A-1.

The girls doubles title also went Catalina Foothills way as the Falcons'  Rachana and Kirtana Bhat upended No. 1 seed  Marissa Baca and Katrina Domingo, 7-5, 7-5. It was the second year in a row Baca-Domingo finished runner-up as the No. 1 seed. Rachana Bhat won singles in 2010 and was third  in D-II singles last year.