Section 1 continues to have tremendous success in girls tennis.
Section 1 recently took the state doubles title and both the state large- and small-squad team titles, while also finishing third in individual doubles.
Playing at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, Byram Hills and Horace Greeley continued an incredible run as Section 1 swept the state girls small-school and large-school championships for a fourth time in the four years team championships have been played.
That occurred days after Greeley’s tandem of Alliison Tsai and Michelle Rosenblit won the state doubles title with a convincing 6-1, 6-1 win over Great Neck South’s Madison Lee and Gabrielle Villegas from Section 8 in Nassau County.
The doubles win was particularly noteworthy since Tsai and Rosenblitt had qualified for states as Section 1’s final doubles team, finishing third at sectionals.
The Greeley team gold was a first for the program.
Not so for Byram Hills’ small-school championship, which was the Bobcats’ third in the past four years.
Byram Hills, which had won this year’s section small-school title, defeating Edgemont 3-0, and went on to beat Section 4’s Johnson City 5-0 and then Section 9’s Spackenkill 5-0 in state regional play, was also dominant in the state semifinals and final.
The Bobcats, who were the tournament’s top seed, blanked Section 5 Honeoye-Falls Lima 5-0, in the semis, then beat No. 2 seed Bayport-Blue Point of Long Island’s Section 11, 4-1.
In the championship, Byram Hills’ Jenna Kleynerman won a three-set match at No. 1 singles. Katherine Shil and Emerson Pace took first doubles, Jordyn Bernstein and Dani Goldman took second doubles and the Bobcats’ Eliza Moy and Anisha Bobra won third doubles.
The Quakers, who topped last year’s state large-school team champion, Scarsdale, for the section crown, whitewashed both Section 4’s Vestal and Section 9’s Warwick Valley 7-0 in regional play, before also running over Section 2’s Bethlehem by the same score in the state semifinals.
Section 1 girls tennis:: Hino makes history with singles title, Byram Hills doubles wins
In the final, Greeley, which was the top seed, defeated No. 2 seed Syosset of Section 8, 5-2.
This time playing singles, Tsai won the second singles match in straight sets, Daniella Rosenbilt didn’t drop a game in taking the No. 3 singles and Greeley won three out of four doubles matches.
Those wins went to Meadow Zhang and Scarlett McFadzen at No. 1 doubles, Isla Gibb and Sadie McFadzen at No. 2 and Lia Yedid and Sophia Wang at No. 3.
Other results
Section 1 also won bronze in the individual state competition in doubles with one Section 1 team beating another in the final.
The winner was Byram Hills as Shil and Kleynerman got by Scarsdale’s Isabel Lin and Kay Cottrell 6-2, 7-6 in the bronze medal match.
Keio’s Sakura Hino, who made history for her school with her Section 1 girls singles championship, made the bronze medal match but ended up fourth in the tournament, falling 6-3, 6-2 to Leyla Tozin of Section 5’s Brighton High School.
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Section 1 girls tennis: Greeley, Byram Hills win state team titles
