After a disappointing tennis tournament in Mobile, Dillan LaFrance decided to focus on one sport.
Two years later, the former football player was the only senior on a Brother Martin tennis team that won the Division I team state championship earlier this month in Monroe. LaFrance and doubles partner Semaj Rouege finished as state runners-up, helping lead the Crusaders to their third team title.
“It meant everything,” LaFrance said. “I got a little teary-eyed. Being my last match at Brother Martin, it hit me in that moment.”
Brother Martin won the team championship on the strength of three doubles teams that advanced to the state semifinals along with two singles players who reached the quarters.
LaFrance, at 5-foot-11 and 183 pounds, was easy to notice.
“He’s the biggest and strongest guy on the team, built like a football player for sure,” Brother Martin coach Lee MacAlester said.
“Some guys just have that easy power with fairly minimal effort,” the coach added. “He’s always had that.”
The former running back played junior varsity football as a freshman and sophomore, earning time as a third-string ballcarrier leading into his sophomore-year tennis season.
LaFrance struggled early, unhappy with his play at a March tournament in Mobile.
“I spent way more time on football than I would on tennis,” LaFrance said. “We always had practice for long hours, putting tennis on the back burner. It started showing.”
After the tournament, LaFrance decided to give up football.
“’Coach, I really want to focus on tennis,’” MacAlester recalled LaFrance telling him. “Let’s go all in — and he did. He’s been steadily improving.”
At state this season, LaFrance advanced beyond the quarterfinals for the first time and forced a third-set tiebreaker in the state final against St. Paul’s duo Jeffrey Roth and William Cather.
“It’s been great seeing my game improve,” LaFrance said. “I love the sport.”
LaFrance said his background in other sports drew him to doubles tennis.
“When I was younger, I played baseball, football and basketball,” LaFrance said. “I love the team aspect of something. Being on the court with someone else — I love it.”
LaFrance will continue playing tennis on the LSU club team, he said, where he will join Brother Martin graduate Sal Trujillo.
Brother Martin has won the team title twice in the past three seasons. The team’s first title came in 1987.
“When we won state two years ago, every single person got us one point,” MacAlester said. “Here, every single person got us two points.”
LaFrance and Rouege earned the most points — validation for LaFrance’s decision to devote himself fully to tennis.
Other standouts
Other finalists from the last day of the state tennis tournament were girls champions Ciara Sergi of Mandeville (Division I) and My-Linh Holmes of Willow (D-II). Mount Carmel’s Caroline Melius (D-I) and Haynes’ Mallory Kymes (D-II) reached the finals. Ben Franklin’s Prateek Adhikari and Peter Simeonov reached the D-II doubles finals.