Just over 24 hours after clinching her second consecutive trip to the Division I state girls tennis tournament in doubles, Upper Arlington sophomore Alexa Roth displayed the deep array of shots that has made her the Golden Bears’ top singles player all season.
Roth admitted she needed every one of them to outlast New Albany’s Airi Clements 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 on Wednesday, clinching a 3-1 win for her team in the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association Division I district final.
“I just said to myself that I wasn’t going to miss,” Roth said. “I tried to stay calm in the third set. I was making more of my serves and I was getting the balls back. I was not giving up.
“When you win the first set, sometimes the opponent’s level (of play) drops. Hers got better.”
Roth used a strong backhand and a few timely slices and drop shots to put away Clements in a match that lasted more than two hours and ended as the sun was setting at 7 p.m.
UA (13-0) will play Medina Highland in a state semifinal Oct. 19 at the College of Wooster. Mason and Whitehouse Anthony Wayne face off in the other semifinal, and the first- and third-place matches are later in the day.
The Bears’ other wins came at third singles, where sophomore Kylie Husted swept New Albany freshman Valentina Suslova 6-4, 6-1; and first doubles, in which senior Ava Kramer and junior Dani Ball shut out juniors Reava Desai and Nayana Thakkar 6-0, 6-0.
UA won its fifth district title in six seasons. The only hiccup came in 2022, when New Albany reached its first Division I team state tournament.
“It’s usually them or us,” UA coach Shaun Stamps said. “I kept thinking it would come down to third singles … but then Kylie started cruising. I don’t know if this is the deepest team (in recent years), but it’s up there. We’re still working out some courts, but we have a lot of talent.”
New Albany (14-5) won second doubles with junior Ella Smith and freshman Claire Siegel, 6-2, 6-2 over UA junior Emily Lin and sophomore Julia Kennedy.
Eagles coach Marc Thomas lauded Clements’ performance, especially considering the senior fell short of a state tournament appearance in singles Tuesday at UA.
Teammate Sophia Bojko battled at the same time, although her match against UA senior Alice Hawley did not finish. OTCA matches end as soon as one team wins three courts.
“Nobody showed more character today than Sophia Bojko and Airi Clements,” Thomas said, noting that both survived breaks late in the third set. “I think a lot of people looked at us entering the season more in terms of who we lost than who we brought back, but I knew this team could handle the situations this season would bring. I had confidence that they’d come out and play well in a big moment and they did.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Upper Arlington beats New Albany to reach OTCA state girls tennis
