They Did It Again! Tennis Team Wins Division I Title for Third Year in a Row

For the third straight year, the Varsity Girls A Tennis Team clinched the NYS championships at Billie Jean King Stadium in Flushing Queens on Friday November 3, 2023.

Since tennis became a team rather than an individual sport three years ago, the depth of the talent in Scarsdale has worked to help the Scarsdale team win the title. The team is armed with three strong singles players and four strong doubles teams, all who contributed to getting them to the finish line for the third straight year.

In fact, the Varsity A Girls Tennis Team has had 77 straight wins and has not lost a match since 2018.

On Friday, the team had two rounds. The day began with a semifinal match against Williamsville East in the morning. The team swept the Division 1 semi-final, defeating Williamsville East, which was the fourth seeded team, 7-0.

At 3 pm the girls took on Syosset, the second seed, who had defeated Bethlehem that morning.

Again they pulled through. The three singles players barely lost a point coming off the court with the following scores.

Katie Kendall 6-1, 6-0
Charlene Dong 6-0, 6-2
Giana Marks 6-2, 6-1

It’s remarkable that Kendall and Dong are only sophomores and have the skills and the temperament to play so well under such high pressure. And Gianna Marx is now a three-time state winner.

The doubles teams also did well – losing only one match.

Emma Ha/Kay Cottrell 6-3, 6-2
Isabel Lin/Jalyn Ryu 6-3, 6-3
Sophia Liu/Carly Alin 4-6, 2-6
Maya Vora/Yelena Sahakyan 7-5, 3-6, 10-2

It was a 6-1 win over Syosset. This is the third state title for some of the team members including Gianna Marks, Kay Cottrell, Maya Vora and Yelena Sahakyan.

Commenting on the win, Coach Jennifer Roane said, “Amazing ride with an amazing group of girls. The girls had a goal at the beginning of the season to repeat the league, section, regional and state champions. It's quite an accomplishment for a team to be state champions but to do that 3 years in a row is unbelievable. Over the three years we have had players graduate, so to win over the three years with a different girls playing on the team is a testament to how strong tennis is in Scarsdale. In the semis match against Williamsville East we won 7-0.  We had the same line up for the finals. We beat Syosset 6-1. I knew that Syosset was going to give us a battle. We beat them 4-3 two years ago in the state finals. After the semis the team refocused their mental strategy against Syosset. Every member of the team contributed to the success of a state championship."

And Kay Cottrell, who plays first doubles said, “I really tried to do the best I could with staying positive and cheerful during the season, which was not very hard considering the people I was surrounded by. Overall this season was really amazing and I think everyone of my teammates are sportsmanship winners in spirit.”

Maya Vora aded, "It was the perfect end to such a rewarding four years! It was especially exciting to experience states as a captain this year and help to create a positive attitude within the team."

Topping off the sweet victory, Kay Cottrell won the Sportsmanship Award and the official badge of the season showed a photo of three times doubles winners and team captains Maya Vora and Yelena Sahakyan.