Bayport-Blue Point girls tennis nets its first Long Island small school championship led by Jordana Heller, Leila Rogers, Lily Castka
Jordana Heller of Bayport-Blue Point reacts to her doubles partner’s point during the Small Team Girls Long Island Tennis Finals against Cold Spring Harbor on Saturday, November 2, 2024 in Shoreham. Credit: Dawn McCormick
The Bayport-Blue Point girls tennis program came through the pressure of a Long Island championship match on Saturday and emerged on the other side as a true gem. Finally.
The Suffolk County champion Phantoms were appearing in their fourth straight Long Island small school title match and facing the same Cold Spring Harbor team that had conquered them the past two years. The last two matches going were both in a third set and Bayport-Blue Point needed to take both to win the best-of-five contest.
Eighth-graders Jordana Heller and Leila Rogers rallied from an 0-1 deficit in the third set to complete a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win at third doubles and moments later sophomore Lily Castka completed a rally from an 0-3 deficit in the third set to prevail 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 at second singles. It gave Bayport-Blue Point a 3-2 win for its first Long Island championship and kept it a perfect 19-0.
“It means a lot to me,” Castka said of winning the clincher. “I felt a lot of pressure during the second set, especially when I was down 5-1 in it. But I kind of just tried to keep it together . . . When I was down 3-0 in the third set and won a game, I could feel the momentum swing.”
The Seahawks' Kami Cotek turned in a courageous performance in the match by batting through an elbow injury to lead in the third set, but Castka’s momentum proved unstoppable.
Kaitlynn Hanna and Dylan Savarese won 6-3, 6-0 at first doubles and Stevie Sullivan and Sylvana Guariglia won 6-2, 0-6, 6-1 at second doubles for CSH (8-9).
“I knew on paper we looked stronger, but I also knew this team has battled against the best in Nassau County all season and the records are [inconsequential],” BBP coach John Selvaggio said. “I had all the confidence in our girls, but knew it would be a battle . . . You saw quite a momentum shift there and it's a mental game. They took [that momentum] they ran away with it.”
Bayport-Blue Point — which started the season with non-conference wins over Suffolk large school finalists Hills East and Westhampton — advances to the state semifinals on Friday at the USTA National Tennis Center in Queens.
“Four years later, we finally got it,” said senior Emilia Romano, who had a 6-2, 6-1 win at first singles. “We lost this our first year when I was a freshman and it's been my whole high school career. It feels really good. In the beginning of the season, when we beat both of the big schools from the county championship, I knew we could do it. And we came here and did what we had to do.”
The performances of Heller and Rogers in this postseason has been stunning for eighth-graders. They were central to the strategy of beating Ross in the county final and both won singles matches. And now this.
“No surprise,” Selvaggio said. “Those eighth-graders have outplayed themselves all season.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.