Girls tennis: Highland doubles team rallies to win sectional crown

ROCKY RIVER — Mike and Lisa Haynes and Jeff and Emily Schlak aged a bit Wednesday. Their tennis-playing daughters made sure of it. The top-seeded Highland doubles team of Ally Haynes and Claire Schlak fell behind 0-4 and 0-2 at the start of their sets in a championship match against Magnificat's second-seeded Molly Williams and Corinne Daniels but rallied to win 7-5, 6-2 to capture a Magnificat Division I Sectional crown. "We like making our parents stressed," Schlak said with a laugh. The parents of the third-seeded Hornets doubles team of Lily Hantz and Kenzie Pawlak didn't have it any easier. The Highland duo dropped its semifinal match 6-3, 6-2 to the Blue Streaks' Williams and Daniels, then downed Avon's unseeded Ashley DeHaven and Maddie Heun 7-6 (4), 6-2 for third place. Both Highland doubles teams advanced to the Springside District, which will be held Oct. 9 and 11. The top six placers in singles and doubles advance to the state tournament. Haynes and Schlak, Highland's top singles players in the regular season, cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over DeHaven and Heun in the semifinals, but the final was a different story. The Hornets dropped the first four games to Williams and Daniels, beginning with the serve of reigning Gazette MVP and 2023 state singles qualifier Haynes. "It started with the first game when I lost my serve, which shouldn't happen," the senior said. "We were not focused, and it got on top of us really fast." Down 0-4, Haynes held serve, which came after the Hornets decided to take it one point at a time and stop worrying about winning games and sets. "Win this point, then the next one and so forth," Haynes said. It worked, as Highland captured five games in a row before the Blue Streaks held serve to tie. Haynes hit a crosscourt winner as Schlak held serve, then Highland broke to win the first set. "We started to think smarter," said Schlak, a junior. "One point at a time was our motto." But, as Haynes pointed out, "Of course we had to go down 0-2 to start the second set." Just as their parents were starting to get nervous all over again, the Highland duo reeled off six games to close out the match and win a sectional championship. "It's everything I worked for the whole offseason," Schlak said. "It's finally paying off. It feels great." "It gives us more confidence going into districts," Haynes said. "We're still going to be nervous, but some other teams might think, 'Oh, we've got a one (seed).' It gives us an advantage before we ever step on the court." Hantz and Pawlak didn't play well in their semifinal match, in part because they were unnerved by Magnificat's illustrious tennis history, which includes state team championships as well as a number of singles and doubles crowns. "I don't know what my problem was," said Pawlak, a senior. "I just couldn't find my strokes. They left town, and I don't know where they went." Those strokes returned in time for Pawlak and Hantz's third-place match, as Highland jumped to a quick 3-0 lead in the first set against Avon. The Eagles, however, rallied to win five straight games before the Hornets regrouped and won in a tiebreaker. "They changed up their game plan and started pushing more shots instead of going for winners," sophomore Hantz said of DeHaven and Heun. "Kenzie and I had to adjust our game plan. We started going for higher percentage shots, and when it was the right time we went for it." The left-handed Pawlak got back to hitting her big serve and crisp volleys, while Hantz used her big forehand to win a number of points from the baseline while adding some solid net play of her own. Highland won the first four games of the second set, and from there it was only a matter of time. "Once we won the first set, we were OK," Pawlak said. "We were not going to go to a tiebreaker again." "We refocused ourselves," Hantz added. "We kept our technique and we trusted ourselves." In other sectionals: Springside D-I BATH TWP. — No Medina County players advanced to the semifinals at this tournament, which was the requirement to move on to the Springside District. Medina fourth-seeded singles player Megan Nuske fell 6-4, 6-3 to Archbishop Hoban's unseed Karlie Nicolae in the quarterfinals, while the Bees' fourth-seeded doubles team of Julia Kraft and Hayden Rea lost 6-3, 6-2 to Hudson's unseeded Bransyn Mathia and Millie Griffiths. Unseeded Brunswick singles player Sofia Droz didn't win a game in her quarterfinal loss to Hudson's third-seeded Mallory Hannan, while the Blue Devils' unseeded doubles team of Ava Daddario and Abby Ivory lost 6-1, 6-1 to Walsh Jesuit's third-seeded Megan Graham and Laura McHale. Strongsville D-II MEDINA — Cloverleaf's season came to an end, but the Colts won two matches at Medina's John Paul Kelly Memorial Tennis Courts on the second day of this tournament. Singles player Mallory Bohan was victorious in her opening match before falling to Hathaway Brown's third-seeded Elizabeth Chen, while the doubles team of Mady Sweitzer and Alyssa Bergman also posted a victory before being eliminated. Singles player Brenna Carpenter, who won by forfeit Tuesday, lost her first match Wednesday. The rest of the Colts were eliminated on the rain-delayed first day of the tournament, which will conclude Saturday at Strongsville. Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.