Scarsdale Tennis Team Excels in Conference Matches

It's been a thrilling week for the Scarsdale Girls Varsity Tennis team who played in the conference tournament at Harrison High School in post-season matches on Tuesday, October 14 and Wednesday, October 15. The team was in high spirits after a stellar season where they won 12 matches and dropped only 1. Though some of the best teams in the area including Edgemont, Kaio, Clarkstown North, Horace Greeley and Suffern were not in their league this year, Coach Jennifer Roane arranged special matches with some of these teams and Scarsdale excelled in these non-league matches as well. She proudly told me that Scarsdale triumphed in non-league events against Bronxville and Edgemont.

The SHS team sent one singles player and two doubles teams to the conference that included teams from 21 schools. Ashley Granieri, who has played singles all season, elected to continue to play singles in the conference, while Kim Zou and Adrienne Travis who had played first and third singles for the team, paired up to play doubles. First doubles team Kate Rabin and Jessica Tsai entered the tournament as well.

For their opening matches on Tuesday, Rabin and Tsai played O'Brien and Grandville from Tappan Zee and won easily 6-2, 6-2. Tsai said they were a bit tight in the beginning but held their ground and succeeded. Later that evening they played their second round against Feitler and Orgielwicz of Mamaroneck and won 6-4, 6-3.

Zou and Travis who were new to doubles as a team also reported being shaky in the first set but beat an team Wolfe and D'Onofrio from Byram Hills 6-4, 6-0. Later that day they met Gray and Luongo of Nyack and barely gave up a game, winning 6-0, 6-2.

In singles Ashley Granieri dominated, beating Kaleigh D'Arcy of White Plains 6-0, 6-0.

All three teams were poised for day two of the conference. Though it was windy and threatening to rain, the matches proceeded and proved to be competitive. We saw Granieri play Deana Giambo of Harrison. Granieri's used her short slices to lure her opponent to the net and then followed up by passing Giambo with a cross-court drive. Granieri won 6-2, 6-3 and will play in the semi-finals of the conference when the rain stops.

Day two was also successful for both of Scarsdale's doubles teams:

Rabin and Tsai were paired against a powerful pair of sisters from North Rockland, Dwyer and Dwyer. They had a very competitive match that looked like it could go either way. The Scarsdale team lost the first set 2-6, won the second 6-4 and pulled out a victory in a close 10-7 tiebreaker.

Travis and Zou played Ursuline rivals Foster and Campose and scored an impressive victory, 6-4, 6-0. We saw Travis playing the backcourt and setting up Zou who has a powerful overhead and was successful at decisively ending many points with strong shots from the net. If the two Scarsdale doubles teams continue to win in the next round, they will end up playing against each other for the conference title.

Out of the twenty-one teams entered into the conference, Scarsdale's three entrants all succeeded to the final rounds. We'll be watching to see what happens in the finals.