Girls Tennis Team Breezes by New Rochelle 6-1 at Raider Pride Match

Happily for the Scarsdale Girls Varsity A Tennis Team, their first win of the season coincided with Raider Pride Week and sparkling fall weather that brought out a crowd to watch their match.

On Friday September 21, Scarsdale played New Rochelle at home and almost scored a clean sweep, winning 6-1 by taking all matches save first singles. According to New Rochelle’s Coach Sgobbo four of his star players were out that day, making it easier for the Raiders to score a victory. This was Scarsdale’s third match of the

season, and they previously fell to Ursuline 6-1 and narrowly missed a victory over Mamaroneck where they lost 4-3. According to Coach Roane, the Mamaroneck matches were close -- and the team fell due to losses in tie-breakers which are now played in lieu of a third set.

But on Friday, Scarsdale breezed by New Rochelle and gave away very few games in the process. In second singles, 3-year varsity player Lindsay Rokito won 6-2, 6-0 over New Rochelle’s Rikki Woodlin and in third singles, Scarsdale’s Kim Zou won 6-0, 6-0. Zou is a sophomore who moved up to the varsity team this year.

Playing first doubles, team co-captain Caroline Pitofsky and partner Allison Shein bested New Rochelle 6-2, 6-3 while senior and co-captain Jessie Somekh and partner Alexandra Emmerman set each other up to take their doubles match easily, winning 6-1, 6-0.

Partners and cousins Katy Rabin and Carolyn Zelicof were also off the court quickly. The girls made the varsity team as freshman and are an athletic and dynamic duo. In fact they have won all of their matches this season. According to the girls they practice together and “balance each other’s strengths.” The called Friday’s match “fun” and won it quickly at 6-2, 6-1.

The fourth doubles team included the team’s only freshman, Jessica Tsai. Playing with sophomore Francesca Johnson, the girls got on the court late but used powerful strokes to beat their opponents 6-0, 6-0. Johnson is new to the team this year and comes to SHS from Hackley where she played last year.

The only match Scarsdale lost was first singles where Scarsdale junior Adrienne Travis played sophomore Jessie Cruz who was filling in on the first court for her older sister Cassidy Cruz. Jessie was a formidable opponent who was ranked among the top 30 in the east at one time. The girls played a long match with both pounding the ball from the baseline in lengthy exchanges. That tough match finally ended with Cruz winning the first set 6-3 and the second set in a tiebreaker, 7-4.

Also on the Raiders this year are junior twins Collette and Carine Torres, and junior Jacqui Hebner. We hope to see them on the court later this season.

This week, Scarsdale will play an exhibition match against a team from the Emma Willard School who will travel down from Albany to compete against some Westchester teams.  Watch the match on Friday September 28 at 4:15 at SHS.

Thanks to Liz Whitney and Tricia McFarland from Maroon and White for providing refreshments. (Pictured at top: Coach Jennifer Roane with junior Lindsay Rokito.)