Cold Spring Harbor girls tennis claims Nassau small schools crown as Alexa Torrey and Stevie Sullivan score key doubles victory
Alexa Torrey of Cold Spring Harbor, left, and teammate Stevie Sullivan celebrate after their straight sets win over North Shore in second doubles clinched the Nassau small schools championship on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. Credit: James Escher
The situation at the Nassau County girls tennis small school championship was threatening to get precarious for both teams when Cold Spring Harbor’s Alexa Torrey found herself in a spot no player wants to be: on her seat near the baseline in the middle of a point.
Three of the five matches were in the books and Cold Spring Harbor was ahead by one. In one of the two remaining matches North Shore’s Erica Jud had rallied from dropping a first-set tiebreaker and was rolling in the second. In the other, Torrey and teammate Stevie Sullivan were trying to hold on to beat the Vikings’ Serena Modi and Jamie Ko.
Modi and Ko were serving at deuce and trying to tie the second set in the 12th game when Torrey ran back for a forehand lob and stumbled to the ground. With the Vikings’ return coming her way, she sprung up and successfully got off a backhand. The next Seahawks shot was Sullivan’s winner at the net.
Torrey and Sullivan’s 6-4, 7-5 win at second doubles proved the clincher as Cold Spring Harbor won, 3-2, at Massapequa High School for its third straight county championship. The Seahawks (8-8) will play the Suffolk champion Nov. 2 for the Long Island crown and a trip to the Nov. 8 state semifinals at the National Tennis Center. CSH lost the last two state title matches.
“There was no time to think — I just had to get up quick and make the return,” Torrey said. “I was lucky I got to it.”
“I was at the net looking to hit the winner and didn’t see her fall,” Sullivan said. “I didn’t realize until after I’d hit it.”
The Seahawks prevailed on their doubles play. Kate Rogers and Hadley Arcati won five of the last six games in the second set to pull out a 6-3, 6-4 victory at third doubles and Kaitlynn Hanna and Dylan Savarese prevailed, 6-3, 6-1, at first doubles.
“Our doubles teams have that chemistry you can build on,” CSH coach Melissa McLees said. “Playing in this match can make a team tight, but we have girls that have been in this before. They not only look forward to this, but they want to go further than we have. We also know the Long Island Championship] will be very tough this year.”
Jud won, 6-7 (1), 6-2, 1-0 (8), at first singles and Natalie Ion had a 6-0, 6-1 victory at second singles for North Shore (12-4).
“I’m proud of our girls, but Cold Spring Harbor’s experience in matches like this showed,” Vikings coach Brian Kline said. “They were looser. We’re at our best when we’re competing for each other and there wasn’t enough of that today.”
Rogers and Arcati quickly fell behind 1-3 in the second set against North Shore’s Brynn Paulinski and CC Papiro. In winning five of the last six games to take the match, Arcati held serve twice while dropping only one point and Rogers scored a slew of hard-hit winners at the net.
“Those two are quiet fighters and always under the radar,” McLees said. “It doesn’t matter if they get down in a match, they’re going to fight to the end.”
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.