The finish of the Southold/Greenport-Mattituck girls’ tennis match could not have had more drama and tension.

Settlers junior Jessica Czeladko and freshman Cameron Ahearn outlasted Madison Anderson and Remy Tryniszewski in an epic, two-hour marathon in the first doubles match to clinch a 4-3 victory in the Suffolk County League IV encounter on Friday, Sept. 19.

Southold’s duo won the first set, 6-5, but dropped a 7-6 decision to the Tuckers in the second, forcing a 10-point tiebreaker. They won, 12-10. Tiebreaker victories need to be by two points.

“It was a little too close for comfort,” Southold coach Mike Carver said. “We had a couple tough matches [before that]. We needed that one.”

Let’s set up the scene.

The Tuckers (3-4) had tied the overall score at 3-3 as Nathalie Perez and Sasha Reyes defeated Southold’s Alexa Pollina and Phoebe Faint in second doubles. That contest also needed a tiebreaker as Mattituck won, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6.

That left only the first doubles match, which began around 4:30 p.m.

No one realized it would last until 6:30 p.m.

“I’m really excited, but I’m very tired because I went a really long time,” Ahearn said.

Czeladko was drained as well.

“I’m very tired,” she said.

Asked how she found the energy to keep going, Ahearn replied: “I think about the rest of the team, like Jess, and because that was like a deciding match for us. If we lost, our whole team lost. And if we won, our whole team wins. So that kept me going.”

Czeladko said she was concerned that the Tuckers duo would win the match, but she and Ahearn recorded the final point.

“I was very proud of us because we worked really hard that whole game,” she said.

Carver liked the way the duo persevered.

“They’re good. The first set was excellent. I think they put off the gas a little bit in that second set,” he said. “I kept saying, ‘Don’t let them stick around.’ And they did. We pushed that tiebreaker. Bottom line is they held strong and they got the win. They’re both young, freshman and junior. They still learn how to play together. It takes time.

“They are getting better and better every match they play together.”

Southold (3-4) also won two other doubles matches. Paige Henry and Alice Sorell defeated Grace Feretti and Julianna Witczak in third doubles, 7-6, 7-6. Juliette Ugunda and Nora Schelin won fourth doubles by forfeit after Mattituck’s Lara Mintz suffered an apparent knee injury, playing with Paige Feretti.

Besides the second doubles, the Tuckers won two other matches.

Sadie Corrigan defeated Brooke Torkelson, 6-4, 6-4, in second singles.

Junior Anna Carter downed Kate Warlan, 6-3, 7-5, in first singles.

Carter, the younger sister of Mattituck soccer’s senior forward Charlie Carter, said the key to her win was “having mental stamina.”

“I feel tennis is definitely a mental game,” she added. “I can practice as much as I want, but in a match, especially on hot days like this, it’s really good to have perseverance.  And especially this was such a close match, those 40-all points. I really need to close it out and just in my mind, say that I can do it.”

Which she did.

As Mattituck’s top seed, Carter takes on the best other schools have to offer.

“It is tough playing number one,” she said. “I sometimes play very hard opponents, some that are foreign exchange students, which are very tricky, especially Hampton schools. It’s very hard, but I’ve been doing pretty well.”

The Settlers face a busy schedule with four matches in eight days. After hosting Hampton Bays on Tuesday, Sept. 22, they visit Center Moriches on Thursday, Sept. 24, welcome Ross on Sept. 28 and play at Shoreham-Wading River on Sept. 29.

Carver hoped that the win would put Southold in the right direction for the rest of the season.

“Hopefully we get ourselves going again, and we’ll be right there,” he said. “We’re doing all right. We have had a good season. Today was better than yesterday.”

He was referring to a 5-2 loss at Pierson/Bridgehampton, Thursday, Sept. 17.

“Hopefully next week we get a little more consistency,” Carver added.

The two North Fork rivals will meet again in the final regular-season match at Southold on Oct. 5 at 4:30 p.m.

The post Southold outlasts Mattituck in marathon girls tennis match appeared first on The Suffolk Times.

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