Roy FuocoLakeland Ledger
LAKELAND — Nya Kerr remembers picking up the a tennis racket for the first time when she was 7 years old. Her family, she said, grew up with tennis.
“I always had fun because I always grew up with friends playing tennis,” Kerr said. “So when you're little and you have friends to play with, it's always a blast and it's really fun.”
Tennis couldn’t have been more fun for her this past spring. Kerr moved with her family from Tampa to Lakeland, and she enrolled at Santa Fe Catholic. Kerr, a junior who played high school tennis for the first time, didn’t know much about the competition. By the time the season was over, however, her opponents certainly knew about her.
Regional tennis: Jenkins and Auburndale boys, Bartow girls heading to FHSAA state tennis tournament
State tennis: Freshman Vasconez leads Bartow girls to region tennis finals; 3 Polk boys teams advance
Kerr defeated all her opponents, won the district title at No. 1 singles to qualify for the state tournament, and did not lose unit the second round at state.
Kerr is The Ledger’s 2024 Girls Tennis Player of the Year.
When last season ended, Auburndale two-sports star McKenna Battilla was looking to continue her dominance in the county and perhaps go further at the state tournament in her sophom*ore season. However, Battilla sustained a knee injury during the soccer playoffs that wiped out her tennis season, leaving a void at the top of the county.
Kerr more than filled that void. Playing competitive tennis since she was 10, she quickly found a home in her first year at Santa Fe Catholic.
“It was definitely a different change over here,” Kerr said. “It's more homey, rather than city life. So it was like a big change. But I really like it over here. It's really nice.”
Kerr set the tone that she was the player to beat in the county when she started beating the other top players in the county, players who ended up on first team. She beat Frostproof’s Hannah Windham, 6-3, 6-2, rallied to beat Winter Haven’s Sophie Boss 5-7, 6-0, 10-5, and the top returning player, McKeel’s Jada Hutto, 6-0, 6-1.
After an 8-0 regular season, she was the West County champ. Because rain delated the overall county finals by a day, many matches were canceled, including the No. 1 singles final that would have been a Kerr-Windham rematch, because of proms.
“I thought it was pretty challenging,” Kerr said of her season. “I had a lot of good opponents and like, everybody was good. So I thought it was fun.”
In juniors tennis, it’s all about the individuals, but it was the team aspect of high school tennis that she came to enjoy.
“I think the team was a lot more fun,” Kerr said. “That's why I want to play college tennis — to be on a team. So I thought it was a lot of fun because, your teammates are on the side cheering you up or after having a match, you go to them and have fun. So it's fun.”
Kerr, whose strength is a strong baseline game, said her biggest improvement this year has been the mental part of the game. Going forward, she is looking to improve her serve.
Kerr capped her season at the state tournament where she defeated Bradenton Christian’s Nathalie Buky, 6-1, 6-0, before losing to Holy Trinity’s Aleksandriya Dzheneva, 6-3, 6-1.
“I could have done better,” she said. “I think I beat myself.”
It was her first time playing in the state tournament. Although she has played in big juniors tournaments, she did admit that it was a little intimidating “but it was definitely a lot of fun.”
Kerr is looking forward to her senior season. If Battilla, who will be a junior, returns, it will be the first time in recent memory in which two former players of the year will face each be competing in the same season. After that, she’s looking to play college tennis.
2024 All-Polk County Girls Tennis Team
Player of the Year
Nyer Kerr
Santa Fe Catholic, Junior
Kerr emerged as the top player in the county. Her only loss of the season came at the the state tournament as she beat all the other top players in the county. She won the district title at No. 1 singles to earn her first bid to the state tournament.
Coach of the Year
Lindsay Hanger
Bartow
Hanger guided the Yellow Jackets to their best season in years. They won their first district title since 2017 when they finished regional runners-up and qualified for the state tournament as a team.
First Team
Montserreatt Vasconez
Bartow, Freshman
Went 12-2 during the regular season and was district champion.
Jada Hutto
McKeel, Junior
Went 10-2 in the regular season and was West County runner-up.
Hannah Windham
Frostproof, Freshman
Lost just once during the regular season.
Sophie Bose
Freshman, Winter Haven
Went 9-2 during the regular season.
Honorable Mention
All Saints: Julianna Booker, Peyton LeFrancois, Lily Hyman, Nandini Gali.
Auburndale: Camila Guilarte.
Bartow: Bhavya Pinapala, Elizabeth Matteson, Madison Fedler, Adelen McLean.
Fort Meade: Maria Daunt Bellio.
Frostproof: Abigail Windham.
George Jenkins: Juliet Davila.
Lake Region: Brooke Williams, Carolyn Nickerson.
Lakeland: Hope Hallock.
Lakeland Christian: Ansley Houghton.
McKeel: Bailey Davis, Ciara Smith, Leia Johnson, Ashley Opderbeck.
Ridge Community: Tyiah Jones.
Santa Fe Catholic: Copeland Collany.
Winter Haven: Presley Odom.
