gulf shores: Gulf Shores boys team finishes fourth at state

Sunday, May 14, 2006
By DEREK BELT
Sports Reporter
It was a historic season for the Gulf Shores boys tennis team, which capped its most successful campaign ever with a fourth-place finish at state.

The Dolphins' No. 4 finish at the Class 4A state tournament, held May 1-2 at the Mobile Tennis Center, was the program's best showing ever and tops in the state this year for a 4A public school. Perennial powers UMS-Wright, St. James and Trinity -- all private schools -- finished 1-2-3 at state this year.

As a team, Gulf Shores finished with 23 points at the state tournament, as Matt Slaughter, Andrew Petrovics, Volkan Barim, Michael Mickelson, Paul Morgan and Jono Ratliff all took part in the two-day event

Slaughter, the Dolphins' No. 1 singles player, and Mickelson, their No. 4 singles player, both reached the second day of competition for the first time.

Slaughter beat Michael Birchfield of Moody (6-0, 6-0) and Brian Ingram of Jacksonville (3-6, 6-4, 6-4) to advance, then lost to eventual champion Colin Perry of UMS-Wright (6-1, 6-0) in the semifinal round.

Mickelson beat Emit Shamsutdinov of Brooks (6-1, 6-2) and Daniel Pilgrim of West Point (6-1, 6-4) to move on, then lost to eventual champion Cullen Wallace of Trinity (6-1, 6-2) in the semifinals.

Gulf Shores went 10-3 during the regular season and finished as the 4A Section 1 runner-up behind UMS-Wright.

Coach Ryan Moss called this year's team "a great team, a young team," and said they hope to make a run at the state title next year.

Rounding out the Dolphins' roster this year was: Caid Rivers, Chase Childress, Ryan Salter, Will Haggard, John Tanner, Jared West, Gary Peed, Roe Collins and Ryan Adams.