Cypress Bay’s Brunt and Aquinas’ Deopsomer are the Broward Tennis Coaches of the Year
Both Carol Deopsomer of St. Thomas Aquinas and Michael Brunt of Cypress Bay continue to lead their respective teams to the pinnacle of South Florida high school tennis.
This season, Brunt got his Lightning boys squad closer to its goal of once again becoming state champions.
Meanwhile, Deopsomer accomplished that goal for the Raiders girls for the second consecutive season and a state-leading 14th time overall.
For those achievements, Brunt and Deopsomer are once again the Miami Herald’s Broward County Tennis Coaches of the Year.
Brunt, in his second year coaching Cypress Bay, helped his team move two steps closer to winning the school’s sixth state title and first since 2016. The Lightning, however, fell a couple of matches short in the Class 4A team final, losing to Doral Academy 4-2.
Brunt did have some individual highlights from his Cypress Bay players as Sebastian Mendoza went undefeated until state and had a successful run in both singles and doubles with fellow senior Jayden Bodden.
But Cypress Bay will have to lean on junior Pablo Alunni-Cobo and sophomores Sebastian Elias and Aarav Bansal to continue their climb.
On the girls’ side, Deopsomer saw Aquinas dominate in Class 3A once again as they cruised to a 6-1 victory over Naples Barron Collier in the state finals.
Junior Sophia Pacheco and freshman Rowan Cicero, who went undefeated in No. 2 singles, led the Raiders by becoming one of the more dominant doubles teams in the state.
With all five of its starters returning next season, it appears Aquinas is primed to make a run at state championship No. 15.
