High school tennis notes: Luck of the draw eases pain of sectional-final loss for Avon Lake’s Chiricosta
Shaun Bennett | The Chronicle-Telegram
Avon Lake junior Nikki Chiricosta has had a blessed high school tennis career. She captured the Division I state doubles championship with her sister Christine during her freshman season, and blasted her way into the state singles tournament last year as a sophomore.
It looked as though her luck took a turn for the worse last weekend as she was upset in the sectional championship match by Magnificat’s Stephanie Hollis at Oberlin College. Until the district tournament bracket was released, that is.
“My dad showed it to me last night and we were like, ‘How’d that happen?’” Chiricosta said.
Chiricosta, who earned a No. 2 seed with her sectional runner-up performance, will face Willoughby South junior Carly Holloway in the opening round and the winner of the match between Hudson sophomore Alex Bastock and Jackson sophomore Trisha Conlan in the second round.
Hollis has Revere sophomore Natalie Robson in the first round, and Mentor junior Kara Sherwood — regarded as the second-best Division I player in the state — in the quarterfinals.
“It’s really just luck of the draw,” Chiricosta said. “I kind of called that draw. I said that I’d probably end up playing Conlan in the second round and that Stephanie would wind up with Sherwood. An hour later my dad showed me the draw and I was right.”
“The district board flips a coin and gives each sectional a letter like A, B, C and D,” said district manager Ed Wolff, explaining how the draw is put together. “Then they randomly put letters together, like A1 will face D4. The schematic of the bracket is done in July or August, so it’s all predetermined before the sectional tournament even takes place.”
That means while Chiricosta was disheartened after losing in the sectional final, she had already earned a much easier path to the state tournament by finishing second.
Still, Chiricosta will have to face Willoughby South freshman Kyle McPhillips — the top-rated Division I player in the state — in the semifinals, but would have already earned a state berth by that point.
“(Kyle) and I have been friends since we were really little,” Chiricosta said. “I was one of the first people she ever played against. I remember we had a three-hour match when we were like 7 or 8, and neither one of us could even reach the scorecards.
“We’ll see each other every other (USTA) tournament or so. We still play doubles together all the time. We got third at the National Open (in Erie, Pa.) just this past winter.”
Also in Division I
The Avon Lake doubles team of sophomore Kate Began and junior Molly Clayton will face the Walsh Jesuit team of Courtney Fleissner and Nancy Joyce in the opening round. Fleissner, a senior, and Joyce, a junior, were the Solon sectional champions.
• Westlake’s Julie Wang, a junior, and Michelle Djohan, a freshman, earned the No. 3 seed at the Oberlin sectional, and will face sisters Carolyn and Ann Jesko of Boardman — the No. 2 doubles team at the Canton sectional. Ann is a senior and Carolyn is a junior.
• Four Magnificat girls — all seven varsity starters qualified to the district tournament — are Westlake residents. Chelsea Girgash, a junior, has the unenviable task of meeting McPhillips in the first round. Noelle Kauffman, a sophomore, and Allie Wasilko, a junior, are the Oberlin sectional champs and will face the Hoover team of Kayla Karpenter and Lindsay Fisher in their opener. Senior Kaeley Doyle teams with junior Hannah Shiekh of Lakewood to face the Shaker Heights team of Amanda Polster and Lauren Holloway in their opener.
Division II
Teams often shake up their lineup in an effort to maximize their postseason success. A lot of programs team the Nos. 1 and 2 singles players together for a run at the state doubles tournament, a move that paid off in state titles for the Chiricostas and Elyria Catholic’s Ashley Herrick and Jacqueline Sammon two seasons ago.
Avon tried something a bit different.
“Lindsay (Aston) played second singles for us this year and won the West Shore Conference title,” said Eagles coach Robin Aston, the junior’s mother. “Carmela was part of our first doubles team and she is quite dynamic for a freshman. She’s brought a lot of weapons to the postseason.”
The pair became the first district qualifiers in the program’s eight-year history, and will face the team of Allie St. George and Jaclyn DiDomenico from Youngstown Cardinal Mooney in the opening match.
“We don’t know anything about Youngstown, so we’re going to take it one point at a time,” Robin Aston said. “We’re going to look for their weaknesses and play to our strengths, and hopefully we’ll come out on top.”
• Elyria Catholic senior Becky Mittler, the No. 3 singles seed from the Rocky River sectional, will face Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary sophomore Taylor Wedlake — the Canton sectional’s No. 2 seed — in the opening round.
• Elyria Catholic juniors Emily Mueller and Morgan Baker — the Rocky River sectional’s No. 2 doubles team — will face Poland Seminary’s Colleen Duncan and Danielle Mullis — the Youngstown sectional No. 3 team — in the first round.
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Becky Mittler, Elyria Catholic
YEAR: Senior
POSITION: First singles
RECORD: 21-8
LAST WEEK’S PERFORMANCE: Earned a spot in the Division II district tournament in Canton this week by defending her No. 3 seeding. Breezed into the semifinals before suffering a loss to Rocky River’s Celia Waggoner — the No. 2 seed. Mittler lost the first set, then rallied for the win in the consolation against Caitlin Lawless of Beaumont.
BIO: Studied dance — including ballet, tap and jazz, among others — for 11 years at Stevens Dance Studio in downtown Elyria. Stevens closed, but she plans to continue taking lessons at the Elyria YWCA in November. A member of several school clubs, including the Student Ambassadors, Peer Ministry and the Student Senate, where she is the senior class treasurer. Also enjoys going to Friday night football games and cheering for the Panthers from the student section.
PARENTS: Mona and David Mittler
| |
|
Filed by Shaun Bennett | The Chronicle-Telegram October 8th, 2008 in Sports. Popularity: 3% |
 Email this story
 Print this story
Read comments and discuss this story
Report an innappropriate comment
|
In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement
and discussion guidelines.
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. If you aren't already registered, click here. If you are registered, click here to log in.
Write a Comment