Eagles win seventh consecutive SWC crown in girls tennis

It may not have gone exactly according to plan Tuesday at the Southwestern Conference tennis tournament at Avon, but the end result was just fine with the hosts. Avon had chances to win titles in four brackets—first singles, second singles, first doubles and second doubles—but only the second doubles team of Karina Marsden and Grace Gedeon prevailed, as the pair swept past Amherst’s duo of Maria Bak and Madison Clappas, 6-4, 6-4. But the Eagles still performed well enough to share the tournament championship with Amherst, as both teams scored 35 points. To make it even better, Avon also won the overall title. Boasting a lineup without a senior, the Eagles went through the regular season undefeated in SWC duals, which counts for half of the championship. Sharing the tournament title was enough to make Avon the overall conference champion. “I’m really happy that we won,” said Hasita Kotagari. “We’ve been looking to beat Amherst for a while. Our team is really good, and they were our biggest competitors. We’re just really happy that we won.” Kotagari won the match that clinched the title for the Eagles, as she won the third-place match in third singles by defeating Danica Hazzard of Midview, 6-1, 6-1. It was fitting for Kotagari to score the clinching points, as the bracket’s top seed struggled on Saturday and was upset by fourth-seeded Danica Knepper of Elyria, the eventual winner at third singles. “That’s seven in a row,” said Avon coach Eric Korey of the team title. “It never gets old. I’m just so proud of the girls’ effort. You couldn’t have closer matches than we had today. I mean, every court was a battle. All year, we’ve been punching above our weight class. We have a super young team, and a lot of these girls are in new roles that they weren’t in last year. But every week we just got better and better.” The three runners-up for Avon were Ashley DeHaven in first singles, Nora Fierst in second singles and the first doubles team of Samantha Gault and Sam Jackson. Korey said the Eagles were very nervous leading up to the tournament, but he added that they managed to overcome some early issues and eventually played well. “Early on, the nerves were really obvious,” he said. “The girls were so nervous at practice yesterday, and they weren’t feeling confident. It showed to start off the matches today. In all of our matches we were shaky and then calmed down and started playing better and better, and they all got to a point where they were hyper-focused and were able to battle back. “I really want to focus on how hard the girls played today, even in some of the matches that we lost. It wasn’t because we didn’t play hard. We went out there and battled, which is something I’m always preaching. It got bad quick on a few of the courts, and the girls could easily have zoned out and just gone through the motions. But they worked their way back and gave themselves chances to win. I think that’s really what the heart of a champion is.” The next match for the Eagles is a home dual against Kenston on Friday.