Two days of hard work and grace under pressure helped the Skaneateles girls tennis doubles team of Makenzi Herbst and Grace Magee reach next weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship tournament.
This is the first state tournament appearance for both Herbst and Magee, who will head to Tri-City Tennis Center in Latham, near Albany, to start play next Saturday at 9 a.m. after their second-place finish in the Section III qualifier at Drumlins Tennis Club.
Having paired up for two seasons, Herbst and Magee had all the physical skills in place. What brought them to another level, they said, was a better psychology.
Specifically, said Magee, the work on their mental game gave them an edge when a match got into a difficult spot. Instead of feeling down, she added, the pair would cheer each other up.
Herbst said her approach was to “take each point as it comes. If you’re down, it can lead to a lot of other mistakes, so we try to crack a few jokes and have a good time.”
Right away, that improved mental game was on display in the qualifier.
In the opening round of the 16-team tournament, Herbst and Magee trailed Baldwinsville’s team of Bridgett Brown and Natalie Kot, but rallied and, in three tough sets, beat Brown and Kot 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The quarterfinal, against West Genesee’s Taylor Ginestro and Kayla Llanos, also went to three sets. Herbst and Magee won the first set 6-1 and lost the second set 6-3, leading to a third set where Herbst and Magee, up 5-2, squandered that lead, but still reached deep and, getting it to a tie-breaker, beat Ginestro and Llanos 7-2 in the tie-breaker to advance.
Then came a stroke of good fortune. Play stopped there, giving Herbst and Magee some much-needed rest leading into Thursday’s semifinal against Sauquoit Valley’s sister tandem of Ella and Tanya Brutsky, who had won both of their first two matches in straight sets.
Again, Herbst and Magee fell behind, but recovered in time to win the first set 7-5. From there, everything clicked, and by winning the second set 6-2, Herbst and Magee swept the Brutskys and clinched the state tournament berth.
In the final, West Genesee’s top-seeded doubles team of Samantha Heyn and Marisa Joyce, avenging the defeat of their teammates, Ginestro and Llanos, prevailed 6-4, 6-2.
But the semifinal victory assured that Herbst and Magee were going to the state tournament with Heyn (making her fourth appearance) and Joyce (her third), along with the Brutsky sisters, who won the third-place match over Jamesville-DeWitt’s Jungyun Kim and Maya Pollock. In singles, Kahlei Reisinger (Baldwinsville), Julia Wagner (Auburn) and Sarah Corasanti (New Hartford) advanced.
Durin the singles state qualifier, the Lakers’ Katelyn Ellison dropped a 6-4, 7-6 opening-round match to Wagner, while Ellison’s teammate, Louisa Morrow, ran into Fayetteville-Manlius’ Maggie Bonomo and lost a 6-3, 6-0 decision.
