Girls tennis: Highland closes out SL American era with 10th straight league title

GRANGER TWP. — The Highland girls tennis team will exit the Suburban League American Conference with a perfect 10. Coach Lisa Reynolds' Hornets, who will enter the tennis tougher SL National Conference next season, captured their 10th straight SL American crown Saturday at Highland by winning titles at four of the five positions, all in head-to-head meetings against Revere, to edge the Minutemen 38-36 at the eight-team postseason tournament. Highland also won the regular-season crown, which along with the tournament counts half toward determining the overall league champion, with a 7-0 record. "It's been so much fun," said Hornets fourth-year player but first-year varsity member Elise Mancini, who teamed with junior Vanessa Demming to post an impressive 6-2, 6-1 victory over Revere's Rasika Veerappan and Aleena Siedlecki in the championship match at second doubles. "Ever since freshman year, I looked up to the varsity players. Now, here I am four years later doing what those girls did." The Hornets also got a repeat second singles championship from senior Claire Schlak, a third singles crown from senior but first-year varsity player Sarah Kelly and a first doubles title from juniors and first-year varsity players Ava Tople and Alyssa Boucher. Junior first singles player Lily Hantz lost in the semifinals but came back to win a tough match to finish third. "I made so many great friendships," said Kelly, who downed Revere's Ananya Jayaraman 7-5, 6-1 in the final round. "The experiences were very good, so it's really great to have this happen." Kelly, the top singles player on Highland's varsity "B" team last season, would have played on the varsity for four years — and at a fairly high spot — at many schools, but she had to wait until her senior year at Highland. "We have such a good team," she said. "When I told people about playing in the tournament, they'd say, 'It's your last Suburban League,' then I'd tell them it, 'It's also the first for me.'" The most important win for Highland was probably Tople and Boucher avenging a 6-1, 6-2 regular-season loss to Revere's Bridget Steiner and Ilyana Leenheer at first doubles. Both meetings had extenuating circumstances. Boucher was ill in the first match, while one of the Revere players vomited several times as the tournament final was about to start. After a determined Boucher and Tople won the first set 6-4, the Revere player was unable to continue playing. "I have bad anxiety, so I get feeling sick. I understood it," Boucher said. "We were just trying to keep each other positive (during the delay) and go out there and get a win. I wanted to make sure people saw how I play when I'm myself. The first match I was physically there, but I wasn't mentally there." Saturday, Boucher and Tople were both mentally and physically present. "We were really pumped up," Tople said. "They beat us 6-1, 6-2 a few weeks ago and we were really bad. We just wanted to win for ourselves. Obviously, we wanted to win for the team, too, but after they beat us so bad we couldn't let them think it was so easy." Schlak was dominant all day while winning at second singles, especially in an impressive 6-3, 6-0 victory over Revere's Sadhvi Kurra in the final. The second doubles team of Mancini and Demming was just as good, with Mancini repeatedly crushing crosscourt forehands that led to Demming hammering overhead volleys at the net. "It's my big muscles, I guess," Mancini quipped before crediting instructors at Paramount Tennis Club. "When I see those (high balls) coming at me, I get excited to hit them," Demming added. "It's my favorite part of playing tennis." Kelly, who was a set into her third singles final when the Revere first doubles player became ill on an adjacent court, was a model of consistency and got stronger as the match progressed. "We both got thrown off (by the illness)," Kelly said of Jayaraman. "It was her teammate, so she probably got thrown off more. I just knew I had to get it done and win." As a team, the Hornets got it done for the 10th straight time in the SL American. "By getting 10 in a row, we honor everyone who got one before us," Schlak said. "We honor Coach Reynolds, too." SL National GRANGER TWP. — Tessa Demiter and Brooke Pinkerton finished third at first doubles to lead Wadsworth at this tournament, which was held Friday. Eden Kapusinski and Olivia Evans were fourth at second doubles for the Grizzlies, Alli Loose was fifth at third singles, Bailey Bloom was sixth at first singles and Laney Ross was eighth at second singles. A third-place third singles match that will affect portions of the team standings will be completed Tuesday, meaning the Grizzlies will finish in a tie for fourth or alone in fifth. They also will be in one of those positions in the final overall standings. Hudson, which won the regular-season crown, can do no worse than tie for first in the tournament, guaranteeing the Explorers the overall title. If Solon wins the third-place match, it would tie Hudson in the tournament but still finish second overall. Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.