Clutch Lady Rams tennis team goes down to wire to beat Woodlands and win league championship
October 12, 2023 at 12:53 a.m.
It was all on the line—game, set, match, winning season or last game heart-breaking loss and in the end, the Lady Rams tennis team's undefeated league championship season came down to Port Chester having to win four of their last five matches minus one of their aces with a fourth doubles team that had never played together before having to win the final match in the crunchiest of crunch times away against Woodlands.
And they did it by a 4-3 score!
'The awesome ending'
Junior Brooke Federice won the third singles match against Woodlands on Oct. 5 to start the Lady Rams’ comeback.Courtesy of Manny Martinez
"It was the most awesome ending a coach could ask for," head coach Manny Martinez said after Lucia Giordano and Sinai Cooper—two players who had never played doubles together—winning the pivotal fourth doubles match at Anthony Veteran Park in Greenburgh last Thursday (10/5).
Port Chester went into the league championship finale an undefeated 5-0 on the season in league play with Woodlands looking to play the spoiler with a couple of country club-level players out to stop the Lady Rams in what came down to the final match of the league championship season.
It didn't start well. Especially with Lady Rams ace Kimberly Maldonado, one of Port Chester's best players, unavailable.
Marisabel Rodriguez and Fatima Coyt lost 8-1 and 8-2 playing first and second singles against the Woodlands country clubbers from Greenburgh which encompasses the Scarsdale/Edgemont/White Plains area.
Federice starts comeback
But then junior Brooke Federice came out swinging in the third singles match and showed why she is one of the most mentally tough players in the league, according to Martinez. "She kept hitting solid ground strokes and making her opponent run all over the place," he said.
Federice won 8-6 in a match the Rams had to take to start their comeback. Natalie Barreto and Barbara Martinez won their doubles match 8-5 playing first doubles. But Casey Schultz and Juliana Castillo lost their first doubles match of the season 10-8 in the second doubles match. Kayley Martinez and Melany Monroy then bounced back to win their doubles match 8-2. So it all came down to the fourth doubles match, the ultimate crunch time with the undefeated season on the line.
The dynamic duo
Giordano and Cooper coolly iced it going away, winning the pivotal match 8-0. They clinched the undefeated league championship season playing the match of their young lives in only their second season of competitive tennis play.
"In the end, this match was a microcosm of what we have been doing all season," Martinez said. "Our player depth in doubles play has helped us win matches we would regularly lose in the past. It's a mark of a good team. These players have gotten better each season and with some training and consistent coaching, will only get better next year because most of them will return to defend their League A developmental league title."
Martinez explained that the League A developmental league is designed to allow girls from several surrounding schools to develop their respective tennis skills and learn how to play tennis with girls of similar skillsets. "Schools like Woodlands, East Ramapo-Spring Valley and Mount Vernon have similar demographics to Port Chester, but even they often have one or two country club-level players on their respective teams. We have never had that type of player since I have been here, and that takes in 35 years."
Lose doubleheader
What Martinez doesn't say is that he has built the tennis program virtually from scratch with a record 41 players of varying skillsets coming out for the team this year. That accounts for the doubles depth because Martinez kept rotating players throughout the practices in game situations so they could all get their shot at playing varsity caliber tennis, enabling him to mix and match in pivotal matches when any of his aces were missing.
He also scheduled matches against tough non-league teams so they could up their games by playing against top tier competition even if that meant they would lose.
In the run up to the Woodlands match with the Lady Rams’ undefeated season on the line Thursday, for example, Martinez had his team play a doubleheader Monday and Tuesday (10/2/3) against a solid Tuckahoe team whose roster included several country club-level players from the nearby Lake Isle Country Club on the Eastchester/Scarsdale border. The Lady Rams lost both matches 4-1 on the Leewood Courts in Eastchester.
"Not exactly the way I wanted to start the week, but the girls showed resilience and pushed Tuckahoe into several close matches," Martinez said. "That's all I could hope for. The girls never quit and that mattered most to me."
Set the stage
It didn't hurt any that Federice split her singles matches against the country clubbers. And that experience could well have helped her start the Lady Rams’ comeback against Woodlands when she won her singles match after Port Chester lost the first two opening singles matches. It was a dramatic start to the way Port Chester went on to bring down the curtain on their league championship season.
"Similar to what has been done in the past with our baseball, football, and Track and Field teams, our girls were the best team in their league," Martinez said. "With additional help and support from the school community and athletic department, the girls’ tennis team should continue to grow and improve in the coming years. I am sure of that! I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of this year's tennis team and hope they will be recognized accordingly by the school district and by the athletic department just like when other developmental teams in our school have won their leagues."
But it ain't over until it's over and the Lady Rams still have one non-league game to go against Valhalla Wednesday (10/11 after press time) with a Senior Game Match at home. The team's five seniors—Barreto, Martinez, Monroy, Maldonado and Yaz Handal—are scheduled to be honored before the first match. It is a good way to end the championship season. Because the seniors helped build the team that won the title, and the nucleus of that team will be back next year for what could well be the start of a winning tradition.
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