Prep tennis: Flying blind in Class 1A-District 10

When the district tournament rolls around, Out-of-Door Academy's girls tennis coach, Noel Dougherty, has no idea what's coming her way.
The same can be said for the coaches at Saint Stephen's, Cardinal Mooney and Bradenton Christian, all of whom join ODA in Class 1A-District 10.
It's a unique batch of teams - aside from the locals, the league is rounded out by Cape Coral Oasis, Community School of Naples, Fort Myers Canterbury, Fort Myers Evangelical Christian, Naples First Baptist, Naples St. John Neumann and Naples Seacrest Country Day.
That's a lot of miles to cover. Consequently, the area teams never see the Naples/Fort Myers schools until the postseason.
"It's like a horse race - you're walking into it blind," said Dougherty, whose team won the district last season and trails first-place Saint Stephen's in this year's tournament, which resumes this morning at ODA. "You have no idea what they're bringing up...It makes for interesting seeding meetings, but everybody is so professional and it really works smoothly, which is delightful. In the same breath, you absolutely wish you were being exposed to some of the schools down there."
Long bus rides, the mid-season time change and the fact that few courts have lights make it hard for the teams to meet during the regular season. ODA, for example, wouldn't get to a school in Fort Myers or Naples until around 5:30 p.m. during a typical school day.
That would leave about 90 minutes of light to play five singles and two doubles matches, which are best-two-out-of-three affairs.
"We used to play Canterbury and make the trip - every other year, we'd switch on and off," Dougherty said. "But by the time we'd get down there...(and) you're driving all that distance for an eight-match pro set..."
The Thunder faced Mooney, Saint Stephen's and BCS during the regular season and filled the rest of the schedule with teams such as Braden River, Lakewood Ranch and Sarasota.
Dougherty would rather see more of her district foes, especially those are the players the Thunder need to beat.
"Maybe there will come a time when somebody will get lights, and maybe we could hold a tournament," Dougherty said.