Lenox Girls Win Western Mass Tennis Title
LEE, Mass. -- The sixth-seeded Lenox girls tennis team defeated No. 5 Monument Mountain Friday afternoon, 3-2, in the Division 3 Western Massachusetts Tennis Championships.
The Spartans got ahead early with a singles victory from Cara Freedman; she defeated Lenox's Liz Jarck 6-0, 6-1 in the first singles to put her team ahead, 1-0.
But the Millionaires' Tori Vittori quickly tied things up in No. 2 singles, beating Molly Amstead in a 9-7 tie-breaker.
"I came in really confident and really aggressive," Vittori said. "Toward the end of the first set and beginning of the second set I started to feel really depleted physically, I started getting light headed and dizzy. I called my coach for a Gatorade and that helped, I felt totally energized and it gave me the power to push through.
"I also wasn't hitting my shots as hard as I should, and I heard Liz [Jarck] on the sideline yell to hit my shots and I knew she had lost so that motivated me to do it even more."
After Vittori tied it at one, Lenox's second doubles team of Ella King and Alex Trousilek won in straight sets to go ahead of Monument 2-1.
It was Lenox's first doubles duo that clinched the title; Cami Smachettie and Emily Czelusniak took their third set for the Millionaires' third point and secured a trip to the state play-offs on Monday.
"It's kind of surreal, I've been on the team since seventh grade and I've gone to three Western Mass tournaments and we've won three years in a row and then we had a gap year," Smachettie said. "Winning this year feels great."
The duo wasn't aware at the time of the 2-1 lead and that their match could secure the title for them, but teammates were there to quickly greet them with hugs when they got the win.
"We were a little iffy, we were like, 'Oh man, does it come down to us?' " Czelusniak said. "So we were a little worried, but then we finally got it and our teammates came down and we knew from there."
Lenox's first doubles pair lost their first set, but they discussed that they needed to fix their net play and have better communication; which they were able to carry over into the second and third set for the win.
"I'm happy for everybody, they're a great group of girls to work with," Lenox coach George Jarck said. "I'm really happy for Emily and Cami, they've been in that No. 1 slot all season long and they've had mixed results, I think people probably counted them out today, but they played great.
"I told the girls coming down here today to play loose, fun tennis and I think that was exemplified by our No. 1 doubles. That was the most fun I saw them having together; it was a great way for the team to end the season and a great way for them to get us the clinching point."
Lenox will travel to St.John's in Shrewsbury Mass. Monday afternoon to face off against Hopedale at 2:30 p.m.