Lynbrook claims conference title
The Lynbrook girls’ tennis team recovered from its only mini slump just in time to hold off a surging division rival and claim another conference championship.
After the third doubles team of junior Sofia Svartz and sophomore Camilla Montano rallied to beat their South Side counterparts on Oct. 7 to help secure a 4-3 win, the Owls returned to their dominant selves and cruised past Oceanside and Massapequa by identical 6-1 scores to edge Calhoun for the Conference 2B title.
It was Lynbrook’s first division championship since 2021.
“Our three singles were pretty strong, so we felt like we always had those in the bag,” coach Shari Bowes said. “That kind of put us ahead, and then my doubles did their thing the whole season. It was kind of who was in the correct mindset at that given point and who wanted it more and we just needed to pull through with one doubles team.”
Calhoun finished with eight straight victories to also finish 12-2, but Lynbrook took the tiebreaker as the higher seed. The schools traded 4-3 victories during the regular season, with the Colts handing the Owls their first loss of the campaign during the latter matchup on Sept. 25 to drop them to 8-1.
The defeat sent Lynbrook on a small tailspin as it also lost 4-3 at Kennedy on Oct. 1. Six days later, Svartz and Montano lost the first set to South Side but bounced back to take the last two by 6-2 scores to earn the win.
“They played on clay, so I think that was another factor,” Bowes said. “It takes so many games to get used to clay, not slipping, being able to plant your feet appropriately. And then once you get the hang of it, you’re good to go. They pulled through for us for sure.”
Svartz and Montano went 7-2 this season when teamed together.
The victory would prove to be the difference in winning the conference. The Owls’ singles trio of junior Charlie Travis, senior Kelsey Roth and junior Addison Cooper continued their fine seasons by sweeping their remaining two matches while the doubles teams combined for three victories in each to clinch the title.
Travis didn’t lose a set this season en route to a perfect 14-0 record. Her play during the team’s preseason tryout tournament, in which she did not yield a single game, may have been a precursor to that performance.
“Tennis has been her life her whole childhood,” Bowes said. “She’s the youngest of three girls, and everyone of her sisters has played for me. Charli is definitely the best at of all three of them.”
Roth also went 14-0 while losing just two sets.
Cooper won her last five matches to finish 10-3. Freshman sister Lily won six matches with junior Marissa Schiller in first doubles and another with Addison against Kennedy on Sept. 16.
The second doubles team of junior Kate Shovsky and freshman Cathy Kim won eight times and sophomore Hayley Shapiro and junior Sophia Romanowski split 10 matches in fourth doubles.
